Search results

President Emmanual Macron had hoped to secure more contracts for French companies during his three-day visit to Riyadh and Al-Ula, but few significant announcements were made during the trip which coincided with his government being voted down in the French parliament.

During a hectic period for regional diplomacy, the Saudi crown prince visited his neighbour for the first time in three years, as Mohammed Bin Salman flew in to Al-Ain for talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed.

The start of services on the Riyadh Metro and hotel openings at the Red Sea Project are positive signs of progress in the kingdom’s ‘giga-project’ economy. But for all the hype about the government’s shift away from Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil revenues, hydrocarbons are as vital to the economy today as they were when Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman launched his Vision 2030 diversification strategy in 2016. The turnover of key executives suggests the Saudi top team is unhappy with progress to date.

Pointing to the mood of caution prevailing in the Saudi economy, revenues are predicted to climb by around 1% in the year ahead, while budget spending is slated to be kept roughly in line with the current year. Meanwhile unemployment is coming down.

Saudi Power Procurement Company has awarded contracts to develop and operate four CCGT plants with 7GW-plus combined generating capacity to two consortia who will receive 25-year power purchase agreements.

Riyadh has signed partnership deals with the military reserves of Indiana and Oklahoma, mirroring similar deals struck by Oman and Qatar in the past. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb also called into Riyadh in mid-November, as part of a two-country trip to the region which also took in Kuwait.

The sale of a 2% stake in Saudi Telecom Company has raised $1bn for the sovereign wealth fund to plough back into other domestic deals. Meanwhile STC is said to be considering increasing its investment in Spanish telco Telefónica.

The days of Ankara focusing its attention in the GCC solely on Qatar are now firmly in the past, as recent agreements point to Türkiye steadily growing its military and commercial links with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, as well as with Doha.

The Saudi government-owned Istedamah Holding was set up in late 2017, seven weeks after hundreds of senior  figures were arrested in an anti-corruption sweep in early November and held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel Riyadh. Istedamah is now emerging as an important institution in Riyadh’s reshaping of the kingdom’s business environment. The full extent of its portfolio is still unclear but more details are emerging.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund has signed an agreement to acquire a controlling interest in broadcaster MBC from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) vehicle Istedamah Holding. Istedamah was set up in late 2017, seven weeks after hundreds of senior  figures were arrested in an anti-corruption sweep in early November and held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel Riyadh. The deal shows how the 2017 Ritz-Carlton affair continues to shape business affairs in the kingdom.

Gulf rulers welcomed a familiar, if neither always firm nor predictable friend’s victory over the widely mistrusted Biden administration to regain the White House. Plenty of questions remain about what a second Trump term might mean for the Gulf economies and for regional security, and the ‘transactional’ populist’s impulsive approach to policy means it is unlikely to be a smooth ride even for his allies. Trump II could further accelerate trends apparent in recent years, of Gulf states pivoting towards Asia and making ever more assertive expressions of national interest, if still under an American defensive umbrella.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence has signed an agreement with its Spanish counterpart for the construction of three more Avante 2200 corvettes, in an extension of the existing Sarawat project that began in 2018. The initial phase of the project involved the construction by Spain’s Navantia of five vessels for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF).

The Brics summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the first meeting between Iran and the UAE since they became full members of the emerging economies’ bloc in January. The conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon were high up the agenda as the Russian city of Kazan hosted an event that allowed emerging economies to show off their potential as an eventual alternative to western economic dominance – and the dollar economy – but above all it allowed Putin to bask in the glow of peer group recognition, ahead of the US election, while his war in Ukraine rages on.

The Ministry of Investment says the Saudi government is now hitting the foreign direct investment goals set out in its National Investment Strategy, after revising its methodology for calculating FDI inflows for the second time in less than a year.

Fahd Bin Nawwaf’s role in the electric vehicle partnership between the local Saleh Suleiman Al-Rajhi & Sons and Taiwan’s Foxconn Interconnect Technology is not clear, but the prince has a track record in the EV sector.