عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Crown Prince Attends South Korean President's Keynote at FII in Riyadh

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol are seen at FII7 in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol are seen at FII7 in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
TT
20
TT

Crown Prince Attends South Korean President's Keynote at FII in Riyadh

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol are seen at FII7 in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol are seen at FII7 in Riyadh on Tuesday. (SPA)

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, attended on Tuesday a keynote delivered by South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol at the seventh Future Investment Initiative (FII) that kicked off in Riyadh earlier in the day.

The FII7 is being held under the theme "The New Compass".  

Held at the King Abdulaziz International Center for Conferences, the three-day event brings together 6,000 participants from more than 90 countries, and 500 local and international speakers from different sectors.

Yoon, who is on a four-day visit to the Kingdom, said Saudi Arabia has succeeded in transforming itself into an advanced industries hub.

“We want to expand the scope of relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he said.

“I could feel the passion for Saudi projects and industrialization,” he said.  

“Vision 2030 is not just for industrialization but encompasses culture and private sector,” he stressed.

Most Viewed

 
Business

Egypt Approves $91 Billion Budget for 2025/26

The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Egypt Approves $91 Billion Budget for 2025/26

The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)
The sun rises in Cairo, Egypt March 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Egypt's cabinet approved a 4.6 trillion Egyptian pound ($91 billion) draft state budget for the financial year that will begin in July, a government statement said on Wednesday, as it continues to tighten its finances under an IMF program.

Expenditures will rise by 18% and revenue by 19% over the current 2024/25 budget. Revenue is expected to hit 3.1 trillion pounds, working out to a deficit of about 1.5 trillion pounds ($30 billion).

The increased expenditure partly reflects elevated headline inflation, which was running at an annual 12.8% in February.

Financial reforms under an $8 billion financial reform program signed in March 2024 with the International Monetary Fund have helped Egypt bring inflation down from a peak of 38% in September 2023.

The IMF this month approved the disbursement of $1.2 billion to Egypt after its fourth review of the program.

The new budget targets a primary surplus of 795 billion pounds, equal to 4% of GDP, up from the 3.5% primary surplus originally targeted in the 2024/25 budget.

The IMF granted the government a waiver in the fourth review after the surplus came in 0.5% of GDP lower than Egypt's earlier commitment.

In its third review in June, the IMF praised Egypt for its "strict control of spending".

The new budget also lowers public debt to 82.9% of GDP from an expected 92% in 2024/25, the cabinet statement said.

The cabinet said 732.6 billion pounds in spending in the new budget would be allocated for subsidies, grants and social benefits, an increase of 15.2%.

The budget increases commodities and bread subsidies by 20% to 160 billion pounds. It will also include 75 billion pounds to subsidize petroleum products, 75 billion pounds to subsidize electricity and 3.5 billion pounds to subsidize natural gas deliveries to households, the statement added.