Category: Business

Riyadh, Saudi Stock Exchange’s main index ended trading higher here today, gaining 74.13 points to close at 11,699.11 points.

The total value of the trading reported was 7.7 billion, while the toll of shares traded was more than 194 million, divided into over 330,000 deals.

The Saudi Parallel Equity Market Index (NOMU) ended the day gaining 573.89 points, to close at 23,999.49 points, with a valuation of more than SR 61 million and an overall tally of 550,000 stocks traded and divided into as many as 2,812 deals.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, Saudi Stock Exchange’s main index ended trading higher here today, gaining 82.10 points to close at 11,624.98 points.

The total value of the trading reported was SAR 6.8 billion, while the toll of shares traded was 172 million, divided into over 340,000 deals.

The Saudi Parallel Equity Market Index (NOMU) ended the day gaining 312.85 points, to close at 23,425.6 points, with a valuation of SAR 36 million and an overall tally of more than 420,000 stocks traded and divided into as many as 2,433 deals.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Sorrento, Italy, Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, who is also Chairman of the Board of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, headed his country’s delegation to the Ministerial Meeting of G20 Trade and Investment Working Group (TIWG), held today in the Italian city of Sorrento.

The Minister of Commerce said that the meeting during the year of the Italian presidency 2021 is a continuation of the great efforts exerted to confront global challenges, explaining that Saudi Arabia, in its hosting of G20 last year, contributed with G20 countries in shaping the future of international trade and investment by preparing and adopting a list of measures related to responding to the coronavirus pandemic to support international trade and investment, as Italy’s G20 Presidency worked on urging member states to continue working with these measures and update their own initiatives and commitments.

Dr. Al-Qasabi stressed that Saudi Arabia is a strong supporter of reforming World Trade Organization (WTO) through the “Riyadh Initiative for the WTO’s Future, which was approved by G20 leaders last year, as it seeks to restore global growth and recovery and encourages to build on the discussions that took place in this framework.

Dr. Al-Qasabi explained that that the initiative allowed an additional opportunity to discuss and reaffirm the basic objectives and principles of the multilateral trading system and demonstrate continued political support for WTO’s necessary reform.

Dr. Al-Qasabi concluded that the current conditions of the (Covid-19) pandemic require strong and effective economic recovery from governments, through making services, investment and digital trade as essential elements of their responsive policies, as the coronavirus has shown that digital trade is not only a necessity, but also a critical requirement for full participation in trade and economy, especially for developing and least developed countries.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Manama, The Bahrain General Index ended trading here today at 1,700.97, gaining 1.05 points compared to the previous closing. The Bahrain Islamic Index ended trading at 674.16 level, losing 1.20 points compared to the last closing.

The tally of the shares traded was 3,475,007, with a total value of 438,320 Bahraini Dinar, carried out through as many as 72 deals.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, “Made in Saudi Arabia” program will participate in ANUGA 2021 Exhibition, to be held in Cologne, Germany from 9 to 13 October, in the presence of 21 Saudi companies from the food sector.

The program’s participation comes as part of its role in marketing national products locally, regionally and globally, and in directing the purchasing power towards local products and services, leading to raising the private sector’s contribution to GDP to 65% and the percentage of non-oil exports to about 50% of non-oil GDP by 2030.

Secretary-General of Saudi Export Development Authority (Saudi Exports), Faisal bin Saad Al-Baddah said that Saudi exports from the food sector witnessed an increase of 9% in the first half of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, amounting to 7.4 billion riyals.

It is worth mentioning that “Made in Saudi Arabia” program was launched by the Saudi Exports with the aim of increasing domestic consumption and market share of local goods and services and increasing Saudi non-oil exports in priority export markets, in addition to contributing to enhancing the attractiveness of the Saudi industrial sector for local and foreign investment.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

A statement by the Official Spokesperson of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki stated that

“This evening, Friday (08 October 2021), a hostile projectile fell on King Abdullah Airport in Jazan, through which thousands of civilian nationals and multinational expats travel.

There are (5) minor injuries among civilian travelers and airport staff — Up until the issuance of this statement. This incident is being followed by competent authorities.”

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Stockholm, On the sidelines of his ongoing official visit to Kingdom of Sweden, the Saudi Minister of Commerce and Investment and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, Dr. Majed bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi today met with a number of Swedish officials.

During his bilateral meetings, Dr. Al-Qassabi discussed ways to enhance relations between the two countries, opportunities of cooperation under the Saudi Vision 2030, ways to boost innovation, pioneer projects and methods to transfer and localize advanced technologies.

He also briefed the Swedish side on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economic reforms in several fields such as trade, investment and legislative regulations, in addition to its efforts of women empowerment, preserving the environment, renewable and clean energy, and small-and medium-sized enterprises.

On the other hand, Dr. Al-Qasabi held several meetings with the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Ann Linde; Minister for Foreign Trade Anna Hallberg; Minister for Energy and Minister for Digital Development Anders Ygeman; Minister for Higher Education and Research Matilda Ernkrans; Swedish Export Credit Agency Director General Anna Karin; CEO of Business Sweden Jan Larsson and head of the Swedish side of the Swedish-Saudi Joint Business Council.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, The international credit rating agency “Fitch” has praised the preliminary statement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s general budget for the year of 2022.

In a statement published on Tuesday, 5 October, 2021, the agency highlighted that the Kingdom maintains large financial reserves, which support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s rating and provide greater flexibility to facilitate public financing needs in the context of unstable oil revenues.

The preliminary statement of the Kingdom’s general budget for the year 2022 indicated that the Kingdom is targeting a financial reserve in the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) of SAR 350 billion in 2022 (approximately 11% of GDP according to Fitch estimates), and it is expected to rise in the medium term. Previously, the stability was at a minimum level of SAR 265 billion in 2022-2023.

Furthermore, the preliminary statement of the Kingdom’s general budget for 2022 predicted a stability in the nominal value of the public debt as of 2022, and its decrease as a percentage of GDP to 29.2% in 2023 and 27.6% in 2024. The agency commented that this is less than its expectation on its credit rating report for the Kingdom issued in July 2021, when it affirmed its credit rating for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at (A) and revised the Outlook from Negative to Stable.

Fitch’s comment confirms the positive future directions of the financial policies that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seeks to pursue as an extension of the structural measures and reforms taken by the Kingdom during the past five years in accordance with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. This was positively reflected on the great global confidence in the strength of the Saudi economy and supported the positive outlook for the future of the financial sustainability of the Kingdom.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, Saudi Stock Exchange’s main index ended trading higher here today, gaining 88.62 points to close at 11,555.53 points.

The total value of the trading reported was SAR 7.5 billion, while the toll of shares traded was 198 million, divided into over 300,000 deals.

The Saudi Parallel Equity Market Index (NOMU) ended the day gaining 67.36 points, to close at 23,714.86 points, with a valuation of SAR 35 million and an overall tally of more than 300,000 stocks traded and divided into as many as 1,378 deals.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys a plentiful and diversified reserve of mining potential whose value reaches some USD 1.3 trillion and a big reserve of underground gold with a volume of around 323.7 tons, where gold is considered among the most important precious metals at the global level due to its connection with the International Monetary Unit and international trade.

Gold is also used in precise electronic and electric industries, medical devices, and telecommunications and transport devices, such as engines of planes and spaceships.

The production rate of gold has realized successive jumps since the launch of the Saudi Vision 2030 that focused on developing the mining sector, and it is expected for the sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to grow further during the coming years, especially after allocating several locations of the mining reserve locations that will undergo exploration based on geological studies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to reports by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, there are big possibilities for having gold reserves in these locations, where a recent decision by the Ministry approved allocating 12 locations for gold mining, where these locations are currently witnessing investment works by several local and international companies.

According to official data, there are six factories producing gold and silver bars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an investment volume exceeding SAR 7 billion, while the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has issued around 477 licenses for exploring gold and the number of permits issued for the gold sector totaled 15, some of which started production while the other are still under development.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has six gold mines whose total production volume in 2020 reached some 434,845 ounces, where Al-Dweihi Mine in Makkah, which is the biggest gold mine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, produced some 248,998 ounces in 2020. Al-Amar Mine in eastern Riyadh produced 31,968 ounces in 2020, while Balgha and Al-Skheirat mines in Madinah and Qassim produced some 78,524 ounces in 2020.

Mahd Al-Dahab Mine in Madinah, the oldest in the Kingdom of Saudi, produced around 28,928 ounces of gold in 2020, while Al-Souq Mine in Makkah produced 20,928 ounces in 2020, in addition to Mansourah and Masarrah Mine Project, which is the latest projects under construction and includes two separate mines in Makkah to produce gold, and its annual average production is expected to stand at 250,000 ounces.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, The Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef met here yesterday with the Minister of International Affairs of the Republic of Burundi, Albert Shinjiro, who is on a visit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting, they reviewed areas of cooperation between the two countries in the industrial and mining sectors.

Al-Khorayef welcomed cooperation with the Burundian side in the industrial and mineral wealth sectors, stressing the agreement to strengthen cooperation between the two countries and support trade exchange, while the Burundian minister discussed opportunities for his country to benefit from the Kingdom’s experience in the mining sector.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has updated the IMT regulatory document in furtherance of its National Spectrum Strategy, which aims to unlock the potential of radio spectrum in Saudi Arabia by 2025 for a smarter and safer future. The updated regulatory IMT document is part of the implementation plan for CITC’s Spectrum Outlook for Commercial and Innovative Use 2021-2023.

This further strengthens CITC’s strategic transition towards the role of a “Digital Regulator”, and it is an expression of CITC’s continuing support for the Kingdom’s transformation into a digital society, with the aim of achieving a global leadership position in the field of radio communications and wireless technologies.

CITC has identified an additional 4 GHz of spectrum for use by 5G technologies and has also set a timeframe for the release of this additional spectrum to the market, which will take place through two auctions over the period 2021-2023. These auctions will advance the kingdom’s position in terms of the amount of spectrum assigned for IMT use. This spectrum release will also support telecommunication networks, enable 5G technologies, and improve internet experience and speeds for consumers throughout the kingdom.

This new IMT regulatory document introduces a range of novel economic approaches to maximize the benefits of IMT spectrum for the communications sector and society. These include spectrum trading and secondary markets, and the adoption of a spectrum light licensing scheme. These measures will improve spectrum availability to users and promote efficient use of the national spectrum resource.

Source: Saudi Press Agency