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Saudi Arabia, UK Discuss Ways to Boost Industrial and Mining Cooperation

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef met in Riyadh with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds. SPA
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef met in Riyadh with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds. SPA
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Saudi Arabia, UK Discuss Ways to Boost Industrial and Mining Cooperation

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef met in Riyadh with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds. SPA
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef met in Riyadh with UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds. SPA

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef and visiting UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds discussed on Tuesday opportunities to boost industrial and mining cooperation, and promising investment opportunities for British companies in the two sectors.

They also discussed ways to strengthen the economic partnership between Saudi Arabia and the UK, particularly in the industrial and mining sectors.

The talks tackled encouraging British investors to capitalize on the Kingdom's promising opportunities, leveraging its competitive advantages, including abundant natural resources, advanced infrastructure, and a diverse energy mix.

A key focus of the discussion was enhancing cooperation in the field of critical minerals. Given the growing global importance of these minerals for energy transition and advanced industries like aviation, electric vehicles, and medical technology, the two parties explored opportunities for future expansion in this area.

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Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Cut China's 2024 Growth Forecast

Citizens in the Chinese city of Shanghai follow repairs to power line in the aftermath of Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai, China (AFP)
Citizens in the Chinese city of Shanghai follow repairs to power line in the aftermath of Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai, China (AFP)
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Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Cut China's 2024 Growth Forecast

Citizens in the Chinese city of Shanghai follow repairs to power line in the aftermath of Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai, China (AFP)
Citizens in the Chinese city of Shanghai follow repairs to power line in the aftermath of Typhoon Bebinca in Shanghai, China (AFP)

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have lowered their full-year projections for China's economic growth to 4.7%, after the world's second-largest economy's industrial output slowed to a five-month low in August.

Weak economic activity in August has ramped up attention on China's slow economic recovery and highlighted the need for further stimulus measures to shore up demand.

The faltering growth has prompted global brokerages to scale back their 2024 projections to below government's target of around 5%.

Goldman Sachs earlier expected full-year growth for the economy at 4.9%, while Citigroup had forecast growth at 4.8%.

China's industrial output in August expanded 4.5% year-on-year, slowing from the 5.1% pace in July and marking the slowest growth since March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday.

Goldman Sachs said in a note dated Sept. 15, “We believe the risk that China will miss the 'around 5%' full-year GDP growth target is on the rise, and thus the urgency for more demand-side easing measures is also increasing.”

The bank maintained the country's 2025 GDP growth forecast at 4.3%.

However, Citigroup on Sunday trimmed its 2025 year-end forecast for China's GDP growth to 4.2% from 4.5% due to a lack of major catalysts for domestic demand.

“We believe fiscal policy needs to step up to so as to break the austerity trap and timely deploy growth support,” economists at Citigroup said.

In a separate development, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is making “tangible investments” to ensure the Big Four firm has high quality and sustainable business in China, it said in a memo to staff after Chinese regulators on Friday hit the company's mainland unit with a record penalty.

PwC Zhong Tian LLP was hit with a six-month suspension and a record fine of 441 million yuan ($62 million) on Friday over the firm's audit of failed property developer China Evergrande Group .