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Saudi Arabia Underscores Women's Role in Real Estate, National Development

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Underscores Women's Role in Real Estate, National Development

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 discussed on Tuesday women's prominent societal role that is significantly impacting real estate through purposeful planning for the required change.

On its second day, the Forum reviewed the positive transformations in the Kingdom's housing sector and its plan within Saudi Vision 2030. It underlined the role of programs and financing solutions for housing support that have allowed more than 755,000 beneficiaries to sign financing contracts that have totaled more than $124 billion.

The Real Estate Future Forum 2024 kicked off in Riyadh on Monday under the auspices of the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing.

Held under the theme "The Power of Flexibility: Building a Sustainable and Flourishing Real Estate Future," the Forum features several strategic discussions about the real estate system on both local and global levels. Over 300 speakers representing over 85 countries worldwide are taking part in the event.

Executive Director of Urban Planning at Roshen Giovanna Carnevali stressed the importance of women's prominent role in society, which has significantly impacted real estate through purposeful planning.

Carnevali noted Roshen's participation in 100,000 housing units until 2030.

She said that 46 percent of the work in the facility depends on women, praising the Saudi opportunities available for women that are allowing them to develop in various fields.

Financing contracts

CEO of the Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) Mansour bin Madi stated revealed that the Fund's share of the total real estate financing market reached 74 percent, out of a total of $166.6 billion recorded in the Kingdom between 2017 and 2023.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Housing Division of the Saudi Umran Society Abdulrahman al-Johani discussed the transformations of the housing sector in the Kingdom over the past years, reviewing the current reality of housing and its plan within Vision 2030.

Johani cited ten development plans in housing that began implementation in 1970 and until the launch of Vision 2030 programs. They all focused on providing suitable housing for citizens at economic costs.

Urban planning development

CEO of the Quality of Life Program Khaled al-Bakr confirmed that the program developed urban planning, addressed visual distortions, and developed public spaces and facilities through many initiatives that contribute to improving the urban landscape and the quality of services provided in cities.

Governor of the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization (SASO) Saad al-Qasabi indicated that the conformity index for construction products and building materials offered in the Kingdom's markets for 2022 increased by 84% compared to 60% in 2020.

Qasabi explained that this comes from the authority issuing several technical regulations to improve construction products.

On the sidelines of the Forum, the Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing launched the professional volunteering initiative in real estate to support youth development and enhance the concept of volunteering in the commercial and non-profit sectors.

It aims to raise awareness among the real estate community on the goals and mission of professional volunteering and to empower pioneering and leading figures to transfer knowledge to beneficiaries and develop their capabilities economically and socially.

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China State Media Warn Trump against Mutually Destructive Tariff War

A shopper walks with his purchases at Plaza Las Americas Mall near the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
A shopper walks with his purchases at Plaza Las Americas Mall near the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
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China State Media Warn Trump against Mutually Destructive Tariff War

A shopper walks with his purchases at Plaza Las Americas Mall near the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, on November 26, 2024. (AFP)
A shopper walks with his purchases at Plaza Las Americas Mall near the US-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California, on November 26, 2024. (AFP)

China's state media warned US President-elect Donald Trump his pledge to slap additional tariffs on Chinese goods over fentanyl flows could drag the world's top two economies into a mutually destructive tariff war.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said on Monday he would impose "an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs" on imports from China until Beijing clamped down on trafficking of the chemical precursors used to make the deadly drug.

The two superpowers are setting out their positions ahead of the former president's return to the White House. Trump's first term resulted in a trade war that uprooted global supply chains and hurt every economy as inflation and borrowing costs shot up.

Editorials in Chinese communist party mouthpieces China Daily and the Global Times late on Tuesday warned the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to not make China a "scapegoat" for the US' fentanyl crisis or "take China's goodwill for granted regarding anti-drug cooperation."

"The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is farfetched," China Daily said.

"There are no winners in tariff wars. If the US continues to politicize economic and trade issues by weaponizing tariffs, it will leave no party unscathed."

Economists have begun downgrading their growth targets for China's $19 trillion economy for 2025 and 2026 in anticipation of further tariffs promised by Trump during the election campaign, and are warning Americans to brace for an increase in the cost of living.

"For now, the only thing we know for sure is that the risks in this area are high," said Louis Kuijs, chief Asia economist at S&P Global Ratings, which on Sunday lowered its China growth forecast for 2025 and 2026 to 4.1% and 3.8%, respectively.

"What we assumed in our baseline is an across-the-board (tariff) increase from around 14% now to 25%. Thus, what we assumed is a bit more than the 10% on all imports from China."

Trump is threatening Beijing with far higher tariffs than the 7.5%-25% levied on Chinese goods during his first term.

"China already has a template for dealing with the previous US tariff policy," the Global Times quoted Gao Lingyun, an analyst at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, as saying.

"Using counternarcotics issues to increase tariffs on Chinese goods is untenable and unpersuasive," Gao added.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that China's economy would continue to grow and develop in the long-term during a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday after Trump's comments, state news agency Xinhua said.

Lee reportedly told Xi "no one should underestimate the Chinese people's determination for their nation to succeed and stand tall in the world," a remark which a separate Global Times piece said was "also meant for some people in (the) international community."

Profits at Chinese firms fell 10% year-on-year in October, data showed on Wednesday, showing how companies are struggling to remain profitable in an economy that is far more vulnerable to trade shocks this time around.

Economists in a Reuters poll last week expected additional US tariffs ranging from 15% to 60%. Most said Beijing will need to inject more stimulus to boost economic growth and offset pressure on exports.

TRADE WAR TWO

Trump previously said he would introduce tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods.

The threat is rattling China's industrial complex, which sells goods worth more than $400 billion annually to the US and hundreds of billions more in components for products Americans buy from elsewhere.

His pick of trade lawyer Jamieson Greer as new US trade representative elevates a key veteran of Trump's first term trade war against China and points to a bruising four years for trade negotiators the world over.

Greer served as chief of staff to Trump's former US Trade Robert Lighthizer, the architect of Trump's original tariffs on some $370 billion worth of Chinese imports and the renegotiation of the North American free trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

The president-elect looks set to tear up that agreement on his first day in office.

Trump on Monday also pledged 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, saying the US' neighbors were not doing enough to stop drugs and migrants crossing their borders.

But China can expect to bear the brunt of Trump's efforts to bring down the US' trade deficit and bring about the "manufacturing renaissance" he promised on the campaign trail.

"What the future will bring on this front is hard to say," S&P Global's Kuijs said. "There are many uncertainties. There is still a large increase to go to get to 60%."