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Saudi Arabia: Arar Prepares to Explore $6 Bn Investment Opportunities

Northern Borders Investment Forum hall (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Northern Borders Investment Forum hall (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia: Arar Prepares to Explore $6 Bn Investment Opportunities

Northern Borders Investment Forum hall (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Northern Borders Investment Forum hall (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Northern Borders Investment Forum in Arar, northern Saudi Arabia, is expected to reveal investment opportunities worth approximately $6 billion in various sectors.

On Saturday, the Governor of the Northern Borders Region, Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan, will inaugurate the event with several national and international officials and experts.

The event is organized by the region directorate and the Federation of Saudi Chambers. It will host several ministers, officials, experts, advisors, company presidents, executive directors, and business people.

It is scheduled to present more than 157 investment opportunities in the northern border region, with an estimated value of $5.8 billion, in various targeted sectors, such as transportation, logistics services, mining, education, health, real estate development, industry, tourism, hospitality, and scientific research.

The forum will include seven sessions with the participation of Minister of Commerce Majid al-Qasabi, Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Abdulrahman al-Fadhli, Deputy Minister of Education Mohammad al-Sudairi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Khaled al- Mudaifer.

The sessions will include the Maaden CEO Robert Wilt, Deputy Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency for Research and International Affairs Fahad al-Shathri, and several international officials.

Through its sessions, the forum reviews investment trends, horizons, opportunities in the northern border region, ways to stimulate investment growth and business sustainability, support programs, and financing solutions for investors.

It also addresses the efforts of Saudi foreign business councils in stimulating trade, investment, and government initiatives to empower investors in the region.

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China Approves $840B Plan to Refinance Local Government Debt, Boost Economy

Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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China Approves $840B Plan to Refinance Local Government Debt, Boost Economy

Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China on Friday approved a 6 trillion yuan ($839 billion) plan to help local governments refinance their mountains of debt, in the latest push to rev up growth in the world’s second largest economy.

The plan will be implemented over the next three years, Xu Hongcai, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress's financial and economic committee, said at a news conference Friday.

Finance minister Lan Fo'an estimated that the hidden debt of local governments was 14.3 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) at the end of 2023. Hidden debt refers to debt that has not been disclosed publicly, The Associated Press reported.

Lan said 2 trillion yuan would be allocated each year from 2024 to 2026 to help local governments resolve their debts. He estimated that the amount of hidden debt will drop to 2.3 trillion yuan ($320.9 billion) by the end of 2028.

Officials also said Friday that the ceiling to issue special bonds will be raised to 35.52 trillion yuan ($4.96 billion) from 29.52 trillion yuan ($4.12 billion) for local governments.

Lan said that the implementation of such a large-scale replacement measure indicates a “fundamental shift” in China's approach to debt restructuring and said that China’s government debt risk was “controllable.”

Analysts have called for bold, multi-trillion-yuan measures to reinvigorate the world's second largest economy, which has yet to bounce back fully from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local government debts have ballooned partly due to high spending and low tax revenues during the pandemic, but also due to a downturn in the property industry, since sales of land use rights, a key source of local government revenue, have sagged.

The central bank loosened restrictions on borrowing in late September, sparking a stock market rally, but economists say the government needs to do more to ignite a sustained recovery. Government officials have indicated that could come at this week's meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which must give official approval to any new spending.

The economy has shown signs of life in the past two months. Purchase subsidies offered to people who trade in old cars or appliances for new ones helped auto sales rebound in September. A survey of manufacturers turned positive in October after five straight months of decline, and exports surged 12.7% last month, the largest increase in more than two years.

For most of the year, the ruling Communist Party appeared more focused on addressing long-term structural issues with the economy rather than short-term ones. Previous steps to boost the economy were piecemeal, seemingly aimed at keeping the economy afloat rather than sparking a robust recovery.

In recent weeks, the party has signaled a growing concern about the economy's sluggishness as it tries to meet its goal of achieving growth of around 5% this year. The central bank's monetary easing was followed by government pronouncements that it still has ample funds to pump into the economy.

Still, the longer-term goals of transforming China into a high-tech and green energy economy seem likely to remain the chief aims of the Communist Party, which doesn't face election pressures like the ones that toppled the Democrats and swept Donald Trump's Republicans to power in America this week.