Out from nearly 30-year-long international isolation, Sudan finds the crushing burden of debt being eased with help from Saudi Arabia, France and other donor countries More aid to Sudan is contingent upon it fulfilling pledges like free and fair elections and implementation of the peace agreement Saudi Arabia has pledged...

69 of the 82 countries tracked by CEIC data see the lending rates fall Saudi Arabia, UAE witness rise in rates by 0.8 and 0.3 bps Benchmark lending rates — the basic rates set by central banks in countries for banking institutions to follow — rose at a much slower...

Monday May 28 saw another price tumble for oil prices, after crashing down last Friday. The correction is mainly due to Saudi and Russia declaring their intent to increase oil supplies by some 1 million bpd as compensation to Venezuela’s output dropping to 1.5 million bpd in April, a fall...

Weeks after Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has threatened to impose some of the strongest sanctions on Iran. Terming them as ‘strongest in history’, Pompeo has urged Iran to immediately stop its missile tests, halt its entire nuclear...

By Gareth Smyth In the same week during which US President Donald Trump replaced Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA director Mike Pompeo, the Saudi cabinet approved its first national nuclear program on March 13, with 16 reactors costing $80 billion. While Riyadh has stressed the diversification of energy...

By Al Emid The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has undergone significant transformations in the relatively recent past. In 1927, the United Kingdom acknowledged the independence of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Najd, and, in 1932, the House of Saud proclaimed its unification as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Ibn...

Various burning issues ranging from ‘The Execution Challenge’, ‘Bureaucracy’, ‘The Private Sector’ and ‘Maintaining Momentum’, will be taken up during the Top CEO Conference & Awards event at King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday. In its fourth edition, Top CEO Conference & Awards promises an exceptional opportunity...

The agenda has been released for the ‘Top CEO Conference and Awards’, which will return to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the second time on 10th and 11th April at King Abdullah Economic City, and feature the ‘Top CEO Arab Women Forum’ for the first time. Under a ‘Paradigm...

Traditional ways of looking at cyber security from a pure IT lens is no longer going to yield desired benefits. TRENDS talks to Raj Mehta, Partner, Deal Advisory, KPMG, on why this calls for an organizational shift in moving the cyber security function to a wider level in the organization....

Arab News has unveiled a new identity and a “2020 vision” to cement its positioning as the leading Middle East English-language daily. The newspaper, which is based in Saudi Arabia with bureaus across the world, also has a new tagline: The Voice of a Changing Region. The changes were unveiled...

For the first time ever, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the “Arab Women Forum” as part of the fourth edition of the “Top CEO Conference and Awards,” which is set to return to the country for the second time on 10th and 11th April at King Abdullah Economic...

A massive economic diversification exercise is underway in the Middle East to gradually end dependency on fossil fuels for a sustainable future. One sector, which has immensely benefitted from the exercise is that of renewable energy. Over the years, it has not only emerged as a reliable and viable means...

The “Top CEO Conference and Awards” will return to Saudi Arabia for the second time on 10th and 11th April 2018 at King Abdullah Economic City, where business leaders and more than 40 expert speakers from across the Arab Gulf and the Middle East will gather to discuss the burning...

By Gianmario Pisanu In 2015, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan aimed at diversifying the economy by moving away from oil and encouraging the development of stronger private and public sectors. The plan streamlined and centralized decision-making to ensure better coordination between ministries and...

By Gareth Smyth On December 18, 2017, a visiting delegation from the International Monetary Fund gave a generally upbeat assessment of the Iranian economy, estimating 4.2 percent GDP growth in the current fiscal year ending in March. Ten days later, protests broke out in Iran’s north-eastern Iranian city of Mashhad,...

By Al Emid The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia currently stands at so many crossroads — and rather complex ones, it may be added — that a short magazine article cannot do more than just consider some of the more striking examples. The paths that KSA chooses at these crossroads will...

Shrouded under various controversies, already isolated Gulf nation Qatar has once again engulfed in a fresh wave of storm. It seems on the verge of losing its prized bid to host FIFA World Cup 2022, said reports. Qatar is reeling under international doubts resulting from alleged bribery in securing the...

It was more about fiscal consolidation than being adventurous in 2017 for the banking sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which has felt the ripples of continued low oil prices most. Though banks warded off liquidity concerns by keeping capital buffers intact and adopting more stringent lending criteria, the...

Artificial intelligence (AI), undisputedly the best technological gift of the digital age, together with Internet of Things, blockchain and data analytics is fueling the Fourth Industrial Revolution around the world. And, the Middle East and North Africa nations, especially those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), have occupied a pioneering...

Making industrious efforts toward lessening its dependence on hydrocarbons and diversifying its current economic portfolio, Saudi Arabia is exploring potential joint ventures to establish tech hubs in different pockets of the nation. Working in this direction, Saudi state-owned Aramco, Middle East’s largest oil company, and Alphabet, parent company of US-based...

Private healthcare in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, estimated at $62 billion in 2016, is forecasted to expand 8.7 percent annually, to reach $94 billion in 2021, according to MENA Research Partners (MRP), a leading research company in the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE together represent more than...

Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was freed from nearly three-month detention on Saturday in Riyadh, is expected to return to his normal life at the earliest. Chairman of Riyadh-based Kingdom Holding Co. Alwaleed, who also owns stakes in Citigroup Inc., Twitter and the ride-hailing service Careem, will stay...