RIYADH: Saudi Arabia Public Transport Co. (SAPTCO) will launch operations of Riyadh public transport network in the second quarter of 2021, the company said in a statement to Tadawul on Sunday.
SAPTCO said it received a letter on Dec. 19 from its 80 percent-owned subsidiary, General Transportation Co., stating that the Royal Commission in Riyadh has set Q2 2021 for the commencement of actual operation of the King Abdulaziz public transportation project network.
The project costs cannot be currently estimated, as coordination is ongoing with the related parties on the required work plan, SAPTCO added.
On June 30, 2020, SAPTCO said the Riyadh public transport network will begin operations in Q4 2020, Argaam reported.
SAPTCO signed, in late 2014, a contract with France-based RATP Dev Company to establish the Public Transportation Co. with a capital of SAR 10 million to operate its Riyadh Buses project.
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Riyadh public transport system to start operations in Q2 2021
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Riyadh public transport system to start operations in Q2 2021
- The project costs cannot be currently estimated, as coordination is ongoing with the related parties
- SAPTCO signed, in 2014, a contract with France-based RATP Dev Company to establish the Public Transportation Co.
GCC telecommunication firms reinventing themselves as ‘techcos’: S&P Global
RIYADH: Telecommunication companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council region are redefining themselves as technology firms to diversify their revenue streams, S&P Global said.
In its latest report, the credit rating agency noted that moderate growth prospects for core telecom operations are one of the key drivers which compel these firms to rebrand as techcos.
Techcos can be defined as telecommunication companies that focus more on technology. These firms provide connectivity through newer channels, such as cloud computing platforms, making integrating hardware, connectivity and applications easier.
According to the S&P Global report, “techcos are gaining ground” in the region, adding: “Rated GCC telcos – including Beyon, e&, Ooredoo, and stc – aim to enhance their techco services and have already expanded their non-telecom businesses over the past few years.”
According to the report, telecommunication firms in the region provide a plethora of non-telecom services, with cybersecurity, cloud services, the Internet of things, as well as artificial intelligence, and data centers primarily targeting business-to-business customers.
Moreover, the GCC region’s mature telecom markets, with mobile penetration rates of 130 percent to 210 percent, offer limited organic growth prospects for telecommunication companies.
“The GCC telcos we rate are typically major local players, operate in a relatively favorable and stable regulatory environments, and benefit from their leading market positions and well-invested asset base. Even so, they suffer from a decline in some core telecom services, including fixed voice telephone and messaging services,” said S&P Global.
Additionally, these companies are also offering fintech services aimed at both business-to-business and business-to-consumer customers.
“Fintech offerings capitalize on digitalization trends, tech-savvy young populations in the Middle East, and underbanking in emerging markets,” said S&P Global.
The report further noted that telecommunication companies in the region are also venturing into media, entertainment and e-gaming sectors.
S&P Global also highlighted some recent acquisitions made by telecommunication firms in the GCC region to diversify their businesses.
In 2022, Saudi Telecommunications Co. secured significant stakes in systems integrator firms Giza Systems and Giza Arabia Systems.
Moreover, last year, UAE-based e& acquired over 50 percent of Careem Super App, an application that provides food and grocery delivery, micro-mobility, digital wallet, as well as fintech services.
The study pointed out that GCC governments’ digitalization and economic development agendas will support digital businesses and boost consolidated revenues of telecommunication firms.
“We estimate non-telecom operations currently contribute about 15 percent to 16 percent to rated GCC telcos’ combined revenues,” the report said.
It added: “While core telecom services will continue to account for most revenues and remain the overwhelming profit generators in the short term, we expect digital businesses will grow at a significantly faster pace.”
The report noted that telecommunication firms in the region will witness low single-digit growth for telecom revenues and organic growth of 10 percent to 20 percent per year in non-telecom revenues.
Mergers and acquisitions could compound organic growth in the non-telecom sector, resulting in much faster revenue accretion from tech-related services, the study stated.
Saudi EXIM exceeds annual credit facilities target by 33%
RIYADH: The total value of credit facilities implemented by the Saudi Export-Import Bank in 2023 reached SR16.5 billion ($4.39 billion), exceeding the annual target by 33 percent.
This figure represents 5.2 percent of the total financial arrangements for the Kingdom’s non-oil outbound trade, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
This falls in line with the institution’s aim to enhance confidence in regional exports and their entry into new markets, and aligns well with its goal of adding value to Saudi-made exports and imports.
“The results of the bank’s work during this year reflect the extent of the bank’s focus on its strategic objectives in building bridges of trade communication with the economies of countries around the world, in order to enable Saudi non-oil exports globally and achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030,” CEO of Saudi EXIM Bank Saad Al-Khalb said.
“The bank has achieved remarkable excellence in key performance indicators, as well as focusing on integrated work with government institutions and the private sector to contribute to national initiatives and strategic plans aimed at supporting the process of sustainable development and economic diversification,” Al-Khalb added.
Dubai annual inflation eases to 3.36%
RIYADH: Annual inflation in Dubai experienced a modest decrease in February, marking a deceleration to 3.36 percent from January’s rate of 3.6 percent, according to official data.
This downturn is largely attributed to declines in the costs of transportation, as well as in the recreation, sports, culture, and tobacco sectors, a report by the Dubai Statistics Center highlighted.
Transportation saw a significant change during the month, going from -1.03 percent in January to -3.09 in February, a threefold deceleration.
The food and beverages sector, which holds a significant 11.6 percent weight in the overall index, also saw a reduction in its inflation rate, dropping to 3.08 percent from 3.69 percent in January.
This slowdown reflects a broader trend of easing price pressures in this vital category.
On the other hand, housing and water, as well as electricity, gas, and other fuels — sectors which hold above 40 percent influence on the overall index — witnessed a slight increase in their price growth rate, rising to 6.25 percent from 6.2 percent in January.
This increment, although marginal, indicates continued cost pressures in some of the core living expenses for residents in the emirate.
Furthermore, Dubai’s non-oil private sector maintained its growth momentum in February, with the emirate’s Purchasing Managers’ Index reaching 58.5, the highest since May 2019, a survey showed.
According to the PMI report by S&P Global, the significant growth in Dubai’s private sector was driven by an increased volume of new orders. This surge prompted companies to hire people at the fastest rate in the last eight years.
In January, Dubai’s PMI stood at 56.6, compared to 57.7 in December and 56.8 in November.
According to S&P Global, any PMI reading above 50 indicates growth in the non-oil sector, while readings below that figure signal contraction.
David Owen, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The Dubai PMI climbed to 58.5 in February, which is its joint-strongest reading since 2015 — matching May 2019 — and suggests that the Dubai non-oil economy is growing rapidly so far this year.”
He added: “The reading signals that the Dubai non-oil sector is one of the fastest growing worldwide according to global PMI data.”
The survey revealed that 36 percent of the respondents saw their output increase since the previous poll period, signaling the fastest upturn in 18 months.
Foreign investors will be treated as Saudis under Nitaqat
RIYADH: Foreign investors can now officially be classified as Saudis under the Nitaqat Saudization program following the approval of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
This decision represents a provision within the classification system, wherein these individuals will be considered on par with citizens when calculating Saudization percentages, according to the Qiwa platform associated with the ministry, Saudi Gazette reported.
The system has outlined two categories of individuals treated as nationals within the Nitaqat program, including the children of local women married to non-Saudis and widows of residents who are not from the Kingdom.
This change comes as Saudi Arabia looks to increase greater foreign direct investment into the Kingdom as part of its Vision 2030 economic diversification intiative.
Inflows to Saudi Arabia of this nature saw a 6 percent annual rise in the first nine months of 2023, the Ministry of Investment revealed in February.
Utilizing an updated approach characterized by heightened transparency and governance standards, FDI funds were shown to have reached SR52.9 billion ($14.11 billion), up from SR49.9 billion in the previous period.
These figures exclude an Aramco deal in 2022 worth SR58.1 billion, in which a consortium led by BlackRock Real Assets and Hassana Investment Co. purchased a 49 percent stake in a newly formed gas pipeline subsidiary.
In alignment with the objectives outlined in the National Investment Strategy and the Vision 2030 targets, significant legal, economic, and social reforms were implemented to stimulate FDI inflows, aiming to reach SR83 billion by 2023.
This suggests that by the third quarter of 2023, the Kingdom had attained 64 percent of this objective.
Bank of Japan ends negative rates, farewells era of radical policy
TOKYO: The Bank of Japan ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from a focus of reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus, according to Reuters.
While the move was Japan’s first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow in any further rise in borrowing costs, analysts say.
The shift makes Japan the last central bank to exit negative rates and ends an era in which policymakers around the world sought to prop up growth through cheap money and unconventional monetary tools.
“The BOJ today took its first, tentative step toward policy normalization,” said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, adding: “The elimination of negative interest rates in particular signals the BOJ’s confidence that Japan has emerged from the grip of deflation.”
In a widely expected decision, the BOJ ditched a policy put in place since 2016 that applied a 0.1 percent charge on some excess reserves financial institutions parked with the central bank.
The BOJ set the overnight call rate as its new policy rate and decided to guide it in a range of 0-0.1 percent partly by paying 0.1 percent interest to deposits at the central bank.
The central bank also abandoned yield curve control, a policy that had been in place since 2016 that capped long-term interest rates around zero.
But in a statement announcing the decision, the BOJ said it will keep buying “broadly the same amount” of government bonds as before and ramp up purchases in case yields rise rapidly.
The BOJ additionally decided to discontinue purchases of risky assets like exchange-traded funds and Japanese real estate investment trusts.
“We judged that sustainable, stable achievement of our price target came in sight,” the central bank said in a statement explaining the decision to dismantle former Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s massive stimulus program.
With inflation having exceeded the BOJ’s 2 percent target for well over a year, many market players had projected an end to negative interest rates either in March or April.
In a sign any future rate hike will be moderate, the BOJ said in the statement that it expects “accommodative financial conditions will be maintained for the time being.”
The language compared with the more dovish guidance that was removed from the statement, in which the BOJ pledged to ramp up stimulus as needed, and keep increasing the pace of money printing until inflation stably exceeded 2 percent.
Japanese shares were volatile on Tuesday. The yen fell to almost 150 per dollar, as investors took the BOJ’s dovish guidance as a sign the interest rate differential between Japan and the US likely will not narrow much.
Markets are now focusing on Governor Kazuo Ueda’s post-meeting news conference for clues on the pace of further rate hikes.
The stakes are high. A spike in bond yields would boost the cost of funding Japan’s huge public debt which, at twice the size of its economy, is the largest among advanced economies.
An end to the world’s last remaining provider of cheap funds could also jolt global financial markets as Japanese investors, who amassed overseas investments in search of yields, shift money back to their home country.
Under previous Governor Kuroda, the BOJ deployed a huge asset-buying program in 2013, originally aimed at firing up inflation to a 2 percent target within roughly two years.
The central bank introduced negative rates and yield curve control in 2016 as tepid inflation forced it to tweak its stimulus program to a more sustainable one.
As the yen’s sharp falls pushed up the cost of imports and heightened public criticism over the demerits of Japan’s ultra-low interest rates, however, the BOJ last year tweaked yield curve control to relax its grip on long-term rates.