First Saudi Chief Executives Association

First Saudi Chief Executives Association
TT

First Saudi Chief Executives Association

First Saudi Chief Executives Association

Saudi Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Engineer Ahmed al-Rajhi approved the establishment of the nation’s inaugural Chief Executives Association.

The Association, led by Mansour al-Shathri, has already convened its initial meeting to discuss various items on its agenda and outline its strategy for the upcoming phase.

The meeting discussed various topics, including an in-depth exploration of the Association’s working strategy for the forthcoming period.

Khalid al-Omar has been named the Chief Executive Officer and will be responsible for establishing the executive committee.

Shathri revealed that the newly established Association will serve as a professional corporation designed to facilitate the exchange of experience and knowledge and transfer best practices to enhance the capabilities and skills of its members.

The organization aims to foster increased communication with leaders across various sectors while contributing to the development of administration and leadership through local and international knowledge transfer.

He further stated that the Association is committed to engaging with leaders to give them opportunities to become active, effective, and influential members contributing to economic growth.

Shathri pointed out that the Association’s strategy is poised to achieve a set of objectives, including raising awareness about its field of work, transferring expertise, activating the role of CEOs in serving the Saudi business sector, launching initiatives, and establishing partnerships to secure a prestigious status for the Kingdom.

For his part, Omar clarified that the entity is the first Saudi Association specializing in gathering CEOs, noting that its primary goals include promoting positive administrative values encouraging creativity, innovation, commitment, achievement, empowerment, integrity, and openness.

The Association is also dedicated to providing professional development programs, conducting developmental studies and research on CEOs, hosting local and international executive leaders for knowledge transfer, and sharing expertise.

The newly-named CEO explained that the Association aims to be a distinguished and progressive local organization, delivering notable outcomes and adopting the best international practices in line with similar global associations.

Through its role, the Association plans to offer a range of specialized products and launch initiatives, develop partnerships with both public and private sectors, and bridge communication gaps to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

He called on all executive leaders to join the Association, representing a core group of decision-makers in organizations and advancing development in the Kingdom through their specialized community.

Engagement is crucial for achieving strategic goals in experience exchange, inspiration from various experiences, overcoming challenges, disseminating knowledge, and creating enabling investment opportunities that positively impact the national economy.



China: Consumer Prices Rise in August, PPI Stuck in Deflation

A woman shops in a supermarket, Beijing, China, Sept. 9, 2024 (EPA)
A woman shops in a supermarket, Beijing, China, Sept. 9, 2024 (EPA)
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China: Consumer Prices Rise in August, PPI Stuck in Deflation

A woman shops in a supermarket, Beijing, China, Sept. 9, 2024 (EPA)
A woman shops in a supermarket, Beijing, China, Sept. 9, 2024 (EPA)

China's consumer inflation accelerated in August to the fastest pace in half a year but the uptick was due more to higher food costs from weather disruptions than a recovery in domestic demand as producer price deflation worsened.

A sputtering start in the second half is mounting pressure on the world's second-largest economy to roll out more policies amid a prolonged housing downturn, persistent joblessness, debt woes and rising trade tensions.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.6% from a year earlier last month, versus a 0.5% rise in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, but less than a 0.7% increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Extreme weather this summer from deadly floods to scorching heat has pushed up farm produce prices, contributing to faster inflation, Reuters reported.

China's affected crops due to various natural disasters totaled 1.46 million hectares in August, state media reported on Monday.

“The higher CPI in August was due to high temperatures and the rainy weather,” NBS statistician Dong Lijuan said in a statement.

Food prices jumped 2.8% on year in August from an unchanged outcome in July, while non-food inflation was 0.2%, easing from 0.7% in July.

“But the rebound was softer than expected and did little to ease deflation concerns. Much of the improvement has been food reflation, which is susceptible to fluctuating weather conditions and capacity changes,” said Junyu Tan, North Asia Economist at Coface.

Core inflation, excluding volatile food and fuel prices, was 0.3% in August - the lowest in nearly three and a half years - down from 0.4% in July.

The consumer inflation gauge was up 0.4% month-on-month, compared with a 0.5% increase in July and missing economists' expectations of a 0.5% gain.

In unusually strong comments, China's ex-central bank governor Yi Gang urged efforts to fight deflationary pressure at the Bund Summit in Shanghai last week.

A national campaign to earmark $41 billion in ultra-long treasury bonds to support equipment upgrades and trade-in of consumer goods has proven lukewarm in spurring consumer confidence, with domestic car sales extending declines for a fourth month in July.

“These policies will take time to filter through, so a demand-led reflation is obviously not yet on the horizon,” Tan said.

Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) in August slid 1.8% from a year earlier, the largest fall in four months. That was worse than a 0.8% decline in July and below a forecast 1.4% fall.

“The ongoing deflationary pressures boil down into a broader problem of production surplus, which is still outstripping demand,” said Tan.

China's yuan dipped against the dollar on Monday as long-dated yields hit record lows after monthly inflation data added to economic worries and calls for fresh easing.