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RIYADH: Affirming its commitment to supporting the fintech sector, the Saudi Central Bank has granted buy-now-pay-later platform Tamara a permit to pursue postpaid payment activity.
With this move, there are now four authorized companies offering BNPL solutions, accelerating the Kingdom’s plans to become a regional fintech hub.
The bank, also known as SAMA, is expecting to draw a new group of investors and companies to Saudi Arabia that can bring added value to the sector and the economy.
The central bank is also working on using technology in financial services to support the Kingdom’s broader goals as it pushes ahead with the Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.
Under the Ministry of Finance’s national fintech strategy, the number of firms in the sector is expected to increase from 82 in 2022 to 230 by 2025.
The plan also seeks to increase the fintech sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to SR4.5 billion ($1.2 billion) and create nearly 6,000 jobs by 2025, besides increasing the share of digital transactions to 70 percent of all financial dealings.In May,
SAMA granted permits to Spotii and Madfu to provide consumer finance through the BNPL platforms, which will also attract a new segment of investors and value-added firms to achieve more efficient operations.
A permit was also given to MIS Forward in March to implement a BNPL solution, allowing customers to make purchases from merchants without having to pay term-financing fees.
Speaking to Arab News in July last year, SAMA’s Deputy Governor for Development and Technology Ziad Al-Yousef said that the bank is planning to make Saudi Arabia a regional financial technology hub as part of its strategy to implement the Financial Sector Development Program envisaged in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 blueprint.
He added that the central bank is developing regulations to address new business models to assist and guide entrepreneurs in the payments, investments and financing sector.
“We have issued 11 new regulations in the last two years to support new fintech ideas and business models. This is a continuous journey, and we are going to accelerate this now with the approval of the national fintech strategy that is now part of vision 2030,” Al-Yousef said at the time.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s business sector witnessed a boom in most segments during the second quarter of the year due to an increase in commercial registers.
A total of 56,363 were issued in the period, from more than 1.35 million registers currently active in the Kingdom, the Saudi Ministry of Commerce revealed in its Q2 summary bulletin.
The Q2 registrations, which included 17,870 in Riyadh, followed 65,400 throughout the country in the first quarter of the year.
Makkah came in second with 12,858, followed by 8,922 in the Eastern Province, 3,332 in Madinah, and Asir’s 2,447.
The wholesale and retail industry led the way with 19,804 registrations, representing 34 percent of all the commercial registers issued during the quarter. The construction sector followed with 9,209 (16 percent) and then the accommodation and catering services sector with 7,151 (12 percent).
Other sectors included manufacturing, administrative and support services, transportation and warehousing, real estate, cybersecurity, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Ministry officials said logistics services, creative activities, and the arts and entertainment sector had seen sustained growth and were providing opportunities to domestic and foreign business sectors.
The ministry recently designated 10 priority projects in the trade and investment sector for this year as part of efforts to evaluate and modernize rules and legislation, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Consumer protection, business registration, trade names, commercial transactions, mediation, and restrictions for developing government firms are among measures to be addressed, the SPA reported.
They are aimed at helping realize Vision 2030 goals of creating an appealing investment environment for local and international investors while also improving the business sector’s regional and global competitiveness.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to enhance food security received a significant boost as the Kingdom’s Agricultural Development Fund signed financing contracts worth SR926 million ($246.8 million) in the feed industry, animal production and dairy sectors.
These contracts aim to support the import of key agricultural products, including maize, soybeans and barley, which are vital for sustaining the country’s food supply.
The agreements encompass a range of projects including initiatives such as the establishment of an agricultural product marketing center, cold storage facilities, and a broiler and poultry farming project.
The fund was established in 1961 through a royal decree with the primary objective of providing financial support to agricultural activities in the country.
By supporting diverse agricultural ventures, it seeks to fortify food security, address any potential supply shortages, and ensure the stability of food supply chains.
Earlier in June, the fund provided funding of SR1.5 billion to local farmers, primarily supporting greenhouse vegetable production, poultry breeding, and fish and shrimp farming.
The loans also extended support to refrigeration warehouses and date manufacturing and marketing centers.
These loan approvals underscore the fund’s commitment to its developmental and financing role in the agricultural sector, aligning with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture’s policies and the Kingdom’s overarching food security strategy.
Notably, the fund has demonstrated its dedication to supporting agricultural activities through substantial investments.
In the first three months of 2023 alone, the fund granted development and investment loans exceeding SR2.3 billion, surpassing the SR861 million allocated during the same period in 2022.
Loans surged 167 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2023, benefiting small farmers, breeders and poultry projects in various regions.
Nairiyah, Rabigh, Al-Ghat and Al-Olaya also received financial support, as stated in an announcement in March.
The increased financial support signifies the fund’s proactive approach to bolstering the farming sector and optimizing the supply chain.
The financing contracts and loan approvals emphasize Saudi Arabia’s commitment to achieving food security and reducing dependency on imports by strengthening domestic agricultural production and supporting vital projects across the value chain.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s economy is projected to grow at a higher rate than the global average as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revised the Kingdom’s economic growth outlook upward to 2.9 percent in 2023.
This comes after the OECD in its March interim report projected the Kingdom’s gross domestic product to grow at 2.6 percent.
According to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook published on July 7, global GDP growth this year is projected to be 2.7 percent, the lowest annual rate since the global financial crisis, with a modest improvement to 2.9 percent expected for 2024.
“Falling energy prices and headline inflation, easing supply bottlenecks and the reopening of China’s economy, coupled with strong employment and relatively resilient household finances, all contribute to a projected recovery. Nevertheless, the recovery will be weak by past standards,” noted OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli in the report.
Meanwhile, the OECD report projected Saudi Arabia to attain 3.6 percent GDP growth in 2024, slightly lower than the previous projection of 3.7 percent announced in March.
Still, the Kingdom remains one of the bright stops in the seemingly gloomy world economy as countries continue to battle high inflation and slowing demand.
With the OECD’s latest forecasts, Saudi Arabia surpassed the growth rate anticipated by the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service earlier in March.
In its macro-outlook for G20 economies, Moody’s upgraded the Kingdom’s growth to 2.5 percent in 2023 from its previous forecast of 1.7 percent announced in November.
For 2024, it raised the growth to 3 percent from the previous forecast of 2.6 percent.
While the Kingdom’s growth forecast falls short of its 2022 projection of 8.7 percent, it remains one of the five countries to exceed the average global growth rate which is predicted to fall to 2.7 percent in 2023 from the last year’s projection of 3.3 percent.
The growth rates of India, China, Indonesia and Turkey are also expected to exceed the global average in 2023 to reach 6 percent, 5.4 percent, 4.7 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
However, the OECD expects the world economy to pick up in 2024 to hit 2.9 percent.
“This projected recovery, while almost unchanged from our interim projections in March, maintains the slightly more optimistic outlook that had been predicted and which we are now seeing materialize,” said OECD’s Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.
These optimistic predictions are supported by the lower energy prices that are easing the strain on household budgets.
The recovery of business and consumer sentiment and China’s reopening also boosted global activity, added the report.
Cormann stressed that it is necessary that policymakers limit inflation and loosen up broad fiscal support via targeting effective fiscal measures.
“While continuing to respond to the immediate economic challenges, it remains important to prioritize structural reforms to boost productivity, including by promoting competition, reviving investment, increasing female workforce participation and alleviating supply constraints, while securing the green and digital transformations of our economies,” he added.
RIYADH: With the middle-income countries seeing slower growth in demand, the global trade in agricultural commodities is estimated to grow at 1.3 percent annually, half the recorded pace in the past decade, according to a UN report.
In their 2023-2032 outlook, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stated that maize, wheat and soybeans will experience the biggest drop in annual growth despite being the highest contributor to trade in the past decade.
The expansion of livestock and fish production is expected to grow at a slower rate of 1.3 percent annually over the next decade. Poultry meat is projected to account for nearly half of the overall increase in total meat production by 2032.
With regard to milk production, the report said that a 1.5 percent annual growth is forecast globally over the next 10 years.
India and Pakistan will play a significant role, contributing to over half of the increase and accounting for approximately one-third of the global milk output in 2032.
However, milk production in the EU is projected to experience a slight decline due to the ongoing shift toward more environmentally sustainable production systems.
South and Southeast Asia are expected to experience a surge in net imports of agricultural commodities, continuing the trend of becoming net importers in recent years. The region’s strong demand growth is the primary driver behind this projection.
Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa is projected to witness a nearly doubled trade deficit in major food items by 2032, largely due to rapid population growth outpacing other regions.
On the other hand, Latin America anticipates an expansion of its agricultural trade surplus by 17 percent, with the exported share of agricultural production projected to reach 40 percent by 2032.
North America is expected to maintain its position as the second-largest exporter of agricultural commodities globally, although its net export position may be slightly impacted by robust domestic consumption growth.
Agricultural emissions to increase by 7.5%
The report further projected that global direct agricultural emissions are set to increase by 7.5 percent over the coming decade.
Livestock production is expected to contribute to 80 percent of the overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The majority of these emissions are projected to occur in middle- and low-income regions, primarily due to the higher growth in ruminant production, which tends to have higher emission intensity.
In addition, synthetic fertilizers play a significant role in direct greenhouse gas emissions. Factors such as high energy prices, domestic policies, and market access developments will influence the global use of fertilizers, leading to potential shifts in their usage patterns.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s small and medium enterprises are witnessing robust growth in entrepreneurial activity, with the total number of registered SMEs reaching 1.2 million at the end of the first quarter, as the Kingdom pushes ahead with its goal to expand local businesses.
This includes more than 88,000 new businesses which were established throughout the Kingdom in the first quarter of 2023, registering 4.8 percent growth over the fourth quarter of 2022, and a striking 179 percent growth from 2016, according to the latest report from SME General Authority, also known as Monsha’at.
The growth was driven by a combination of supporting business policies, advantageous macroeconomic circumstances, prospective investments, and an established entrepreneurial culture.
“The Kingdom has undertaken a series of bold initiatives to develop its economy, reduce its dependency on oil, and contribute to achieving Vision 2030’s goal of building a diversified and sustainable ecosystem, developing SMEs, and supporting entrepreneurs through private and public sector cooperation,” Munir Mohammad Nasser bin Saad, chairman of Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah Chamber said in the report titled SME Monitor.
He commended the role played by Monsha’at to “enable the wider entrepreneurship ecosystem through its many innovative services designed to help SMEs overcome challenges and build the businesses of tomorrow.”
Saudi Arabia’s SME ecosystem extends throughout the country, but Riyadh region continues to dominate the sector, as the capital city fosters dynamic growth across several key industries, the report said.
The first quarter report stated that Riyadh “played a significant role” as it had the highest percentage of SMEs at a rate of 41.4 percent, followed by Makkah and Eastern province at 18.9 percent and 11.1 percent respectively.
The Kingdom’s emerging new SMEs also managed to attract $359 million in venture capital funding in the first quarter of 2023.
The unprecedented growth in SME activities saw the sector employing 6.5 million people in Saudi Arabia by the end of first quarter.
Meanwhile, Monsha’at also helped launch the SME Bank which played an important role in increasing the productivity of SMEs and boosting their contribution to the gross domestic product to 35 percent by 2030.
Also noteworthy were the achievements of the Biban 2023 Forum — an event held in Riyadh in March and attended by an estimated 145,000 visitors from all over the world — which generated over $13.8 billion in agreements and announcements for SMEs in the Kingdom.
Monsha’at also recently obtained three international ISO certificates for applying the best international practices and standards to build a competitive and sustainable ecosystem spurring growth across various sectors, the report noted.