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Saudi Arabia Strengthens Private Sector Collaboration at PIF Forum

Gatherers at the second edition of the PIF and Private Sector Forum. (PIF and Private Sector Forum)
Gatherers at the second edition of the PIF and Private Sector Forum. (PIF and Private Sector Forum)
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Saudi Arabia Strengthens Private Sector Collaboration at PIF Forum

Gatherers at the second edition of the PIF and Private Sector Forum. (PIF and Private Sector Forum)
Gatherers at the second edition of the PIF and Private Sector Forum. (PIF and Private Sector Forum)

Saudi Arabia is intensifying efforts to boost private sector contributions to its economy and attract foreign investments, aligning with Vision 2030’s goal of reducing reliance on oil. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) plays a pivotal role in this transformation by fostering an attractive investment climate and establishing new economic sectors.

A key platform driving this initiative is the 2025 PIF and Private Sector Forum, which launches on Wednesday in its third edition. The forum serves as a bridge between PIF, its subsidiaries, and private enterprises, reinforcing partnerships to accelerate economic diversification.

The Kingdom aims to increase the private sector’s share of GDP to 65% by 2030. To achieve this goal, the government has implemented economic reforms to enhance business operations, digitize government services and create financing programs, incubators and accelerators to support private enterprises.

PIF has been instrumental in unlocking previously untapped non-oil sectors, providing new investment opportunities. Local businesses have capitalized on these developments, contributing to sectoral growth and national economic expansion.

Private sector contribution

Since the launch of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has made significant strides in attracting foreign investments and bolstering private sector activity. In January 2025, the Kingdom’s non-oil economy recorded its strongest performance in over a decade.

The Riyad Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged from 58.4 in December 2024 to 60.5 in January 2025, marking its highest level since September 2014. The PMI, a key economic indicator, reflects improvements in private sector conditions.

The country’s economy grew by 1.3% in 2024, driven by a 4.3% expansion in non-oil activities, while the oil sector experienced contraction. The Ministry of Finance had projected a 0.8% GDP growth for the year, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated a 1.4% expansion.

Managing assets worth approximately $930 billion, PIF plans to reduce its international investment share from 30% to 18-20%, emphasizing domestic development projects.

“Most of PIF’s investments focus on national development initiatives,” stated PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan at the Future Investment Initiative conference.

Strategic sectors

Dr. Moodhi Al-Otaibi, Assistant Professor of Economics at Al Yamamah University, highlighted PIF’s essential role in achieving Vision 2030 through active contributions to local and global economic frameworks. This has positioned Saudi Arabia as a leading investment hub, fostering economic transformation and private sector growth.

She emphasized the private sector as the Kingdom’s long-term strategic partner, noting PIF’s commitment to enhancing local content. The fund focuses on 13 key industries, including housing, tourism, hospitality and entertainment, while also driving innovation.

PIF’s investment portfolio includes 99 companies that have significantly contributed to localization and economic diversification. The fund has introduced several targeted initiatives, such as Mosaahama (Contribution), Business Accelerator, and the PIF SME Program, to empower private enterprises and connect them with emerging opportunities.

The PIF and Private Sector Forum has seen rapid growth in participation over its past two editions. Attendee numbers surged from 4,000 in 2023 to 9,000 in 2024, while the number of PIF portfolio company booths expanded from 50 to 83. The forum also facilitated agreements and memorandums of understanding worth approximately SAR 17 billion ($4.5 billion).

The 2025 edition is expected to host 1,000 high-profile participants from public and private sectors. Over 120 speakers will take part in discussions, with extensive media coverage from more than 40 local and international outlets.

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Business

China's Finance Ministry: Fiscal Policies Will be More 'Proactive' in 2026

A man walks on a street in Beijing, China, 24 December 2025. EPA/WU HAO
A man walks on a street in Beijing, China, 24 December 2025. EPA/WU HAO
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China's Finance Ministry: Fiscal Policies Will be More 'Proactive' in 2026

A man walks on a street in Beijing, China, 24 December 2025. EPA/WU HAO
A man walks on a street in Beijing, China, 24 December 2025. EPA/WU HAO

China's finance ministry on Sunday said fiscal policies will be more proactive next year, reiterating its focus on domestic demand, technological innovation and a social safety net.

The statement comes as trading partners urge the world's second-biggest economy to reduce its reliance on exports, underscoring the urgency to revive confidence at home where a prolonged property crisis has rippled ⁠through the economy, weighing on sentiment.

China will boost consumption and actively expand investment in new productive forces and people's overall development, the ministry said in a statement after a two-day meeting at which it set ⁠2026 goals.

In addition, Reuters quoted the ministry as saying that it will support innovation to foster new growth engines, and improve the social security system by providing better healthcare and education services.

Other tasks for next year include promoting integration between urban and rural areas, and propelling China's transformation into a greener society.

China is likely to stick to ⁠its annual economic growth target of around 5% in 2026, government advisers and analysts told Reuters, a goal that would require authorities to keep fiscal and monetary spigots open as they seek to snap a deflationary spell.

Leaders this month promised to maintain a "proactive" fiscal policy next year that would stimulate both consumption and investment to maintain high economic growth.

Business

Bulgaria Adopts Euro Amid Fear and Uncertainty

Customers shop in a grocery store in the village of Chuprene, northwestern Bulgaria on December 7, 2025. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)
Customers shop in a grocery store in the village of Chuprene, northwestern Bulgaria on December 7, 2025. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)
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Bulgaria Adopts Euro Amid Fear and Uncertainty

Customers shop in a grocery store in the village of Chuprene, northwestern Bulgaria on December 7, 2025. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)
Customers shop in a grocery store in the village of Chuprene, northwestern Bulgaria on December 7, 2025. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)

Bulgaria will become the 21st country to adopt the euro on Thursday, but some believe the move could bring higher prices and add to instability in the European Union's poorest country.

A protest campaign emerged this year to "keep the Bulgarian lev", playing on public fears of price rises and a generally negative view of the euro among much of the population.

But successive governments have pushed to join the eurozone and supporters insist it will boost the economy, reinforce ties to the West and protect against Russia's influence.

The single currency first rolled out in 12 countries on January 1, 2002, and has since regularly extended its influence, with Croatia the last country to join in 2023.

But Bulgaria faces unique challenges, including anti-corruption protests that recently swept a conservative-led government from office, leaving the country on the verge of its eighth election in five years.

Boryana Dimitrova of the Alpha Research polling institute, which has tracked public opinion on the euro for a year, told AFP any problems with euro adoption would be seized on by anti-EU politicians.

Any issues will become "part of the political campaign, which creates a basis for rhetoric directed against the EU", she said.

While far-right and pro-Russia parties have been behind several anti-euro protests, many people, especially in poor rural areas, worry about the new currency.

"Prices will go up. That's what friends of mine who live in Western Europe told me," Bilyana Nikolova, 53, who runs a grocery store in the village of Chuprene in northwestern Bulgaria, told AFP.

The latest survey by the EU's polling agency Eurobarometer suggested 49 percent of Bulgarians were against the single currency.

After hyperinflation in the 1990s, Bulgaria pegged its currency to the German mark and then to the euro, making the country dependent on the European Central Bank (ECB).

"It will now finally be able to take part in decision making within this monetary union," Georgi Angelov, senior economist at the Open Society Institute in Sofia, told AFP.

An EU member since 2007, Bulgaria joined the so-called "waiting room" to the single currency in 2020, at the same time as Croatia.

The gains of joining the euro are "substantial", ECB president Christine Lagarde said last month in Sofia, citing "smoother trade, lower financing costs and more stable prices".

Small and medium-sized enterprises stand to save an equivalent of some 500 million euros ($580 million) in exchange fees, she added.

One sector expected to benefit in the Black Sea nation is tourism, which this year generated around eight percent of the country's GDP.

Lagarde predicted the impact on consumer prices would be "modest and short-lived", saying in earlier euro changeovers, the impact was between 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points.

But consumers -- already struggling with inflation -- fear they will not be able to make ends meet, according to Dimitrova.

Food prices in November were up five percent year-on-year, according to the National Statistical Institute, more than double the eurozone average.

Parliament this year adopted empowered oversight bodies to investigate sharp price hikes and curb "unjustified" surges linked to the euro changeover.

But analysts fear wider political uncertainty risks delaying much needed anti-corruption reforms, which could have a knock-on effect on the wider economy.

"The challenge will be to have a stable government for at least one to two years, so we can fully reap the benefits of joining the euro area," Angelov said.

Business

Syria Prepares to Launch New Currency Amid Major Challenges

Syrian Central Bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh (X)
Syrian Central Bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh (X)
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Syria Prepares to Launch New Currency Amid Major Challenges

Syrian Central Bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh (X)
Syrian Central Bank Governor Abdulkader Husrieh (X)

Syria’s central bank governor, Abdulkader Husrieh, said the new Syrian pound is not merely a means of exchange but a symbol of the success of the Syrian revolution, national belonging, and confidence in the country’s ability to recover.

In a Facebook post, Husrieh said that with the launch of the new currency, Syrians were not just celebrating a banknote, but also celebrating their sovereignty and national identity, noting that many international experiences show that national currencies become strong when people rally around them, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.

He pointed to Germany’s experience, where the introduction of the mark after the war marked the starting point of economic recovery, and to France, where the new French franc became the financial symbol of the new republic, known as the Fifth Republic.

Husrieh said the central bank would carry out its role with a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities, while committing to responsibility, transparency, and the protection of the national currency. He added that the cornerstone remains public solidarity and trust, because a strong currency begins with the people's belief in it.

He called for turning the launch into a dignified national occasion through which Syrians express awareness, confidence, and adherence to the pound as a symbol of sovereignty and a national choice.

Husrieh added that supporting the pound is supporting the nation, and taking pride in it is a matter of pride in the future for Syrians and their children. He described the move as an opportunity for a new success following the success of the revolution in liberation and the lifting of economic sanctions that had shackled Syria’s economy for nearly fifty years.

Husrieh had recently announced that Jan. 1, 2026, would mark the launch of the new Syrian currency and the start of the exchange process for the old notes, with the exchange to be carried out through 66 companies and 1,000 designated outlets.

Restoring confidence

Political and economic researcher Bassel Kouwefi said the exchange plans, if well implemented, could serve as an entry point for rebuilding confidence in the national economy, encouraging domestic investment, and paving the way for broader reforms in the financial sector. However, he warned against failing to address the root causes of inflation and economic collapse during the previous regime's rule.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Kouwefi described currency exchange and the removal of zeros as complex economic measures.

He said their main benefits include simplifying daily transactions, reducing the volume of banknotes in circulation, boosting confidence in stability, lowering printing and transportation costs, simplifying accounting records and financial software, and reducing currency speculation driven by corruption networks seeking to undermine stability in Syria.

Kouwefi said the exchange plans, if well-executed, could help restore confidence in the macroeconomy, but stressed the challenges posed by failing to tackle the fundamental causes of past inflation and collapse, including fiscal deficits, instability, and weak production. He said a comprehensive economic and financial program was therefore essential.

He added that the process also requires strong banking infrastructure, an organized transition period, and sufficient liquidity in the new denominations.

He said these remain major challenges under current Syrian conditions, alongside the need to mitigate social impacts that could lead to public confusion, market exploitation, and difficulties for less informed segments of society.