Online Orders Grow 240% in Saudi Arabia

Staff working on online orders pin high hopes on growing demand
Staff working on online orders pin high hopes on growing demand
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Online Orders Grow 240% in Saudi Arabia

Staff working on online orders pin high hopes on growing demand
Staff working on online orders pin high hopes on growing demand

Official data showed a 240 percent increase in online orders in Saudi Arabia during the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff working on online orders pinned high hopes on growing demand, which would give delivery companies a greater chance for growth and enhanced performance, and ultimately increase employment.

The Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) revealed in a statement that orders exceeded 240 percent compared to 54 percent at the beginning of last April. Delivery applications executed more than 12 million orders in around 200 cities and governorates across the Kingdom.

Ebrahim al-Jassim, founder and managing director at HungerStation, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the pandemic compelled several new users to try the delivery applications.

This indicates the possibility of a mounting demand for delivery apps even after the crisis ends.

Jassim noted that services most benefiting from this stage are not food delivery applications rather apps delivering products and commodities.

Eng. Nayef Shshah, general manager of postal and logistic services, explained that the Commission partnered with several government agencies and established precise governance mechanisms.

He cited the launch of the Human Resources Development Fund (Hadaf) in addition to a partnership with the CITC to form a financial support program that motivates young Saudis to join the workforce of delivery applications.

Restructuring the sector of delivery apps was a key goal for CITC through a joint cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Investment, Shshah added.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."