عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

KSA Enables Private Sector to Invest In State Development Projects

Saudi Arabia seeks to enable the private sector to participate in government development projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia seeks to enable the private sector to participate in government development projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

KSA Enables Private Sector to Invest In State Development Projects

Saudi Arabia seeks to enable the private sector to participate in government development projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia seeks to enable the private sector to participate in government development projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Real Estate announced the signing of a MoU with the Projects Support Fund at the Ministry of Finance to enhance mutual cooperation in the field of partnerships with the private sector.

The memorandum gives the private sector the opportunity to invest in development projects in the sectors covered by the fund, namely education, health care and real estate development.

The governor of the Real Estate General Authority, Ihsan Bafakih, said on Thursday that the MoU reflected the Authority’s approach towards enhancing integration and partnership between all components of the government system in order to achieve the desired goals.

According to Bafakih, the Authority and the Fund seek, through the MoU, to achieve several goals, including contributing to financing real estate development projects, such as buildings and integrated service projects, in accordance with the financing policies approved by the Fund, in addition to qualifying private sector institutions and introducing them to the financial and technical requirements and providing an favorable environment to attract various qualitative investments.

On a different note, the National Debt Management Center at the Ministry of Finance (NDMC) signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). The agreement was signed by Fahad Al-Saif, Chief Executive Officer of the NDMC, and Atsuo Kuroda, Chairman and CEO of NEXI.

Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, who is also the chairman of the NDMC’s Board of Directors, said that the signing of the Memorandum came in parallel with the fifth Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 Ministerial Meeting and aimed to expand the opportunities of financing government projects implemented by Japanese companies in the Kingdom.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

ECB to Look Past Trump Risk and Push on with Rate Cuts

The ECB is confident that inflation is heading towards its target. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The ECB is confident that inflation is heading towards its target. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
TT
TT

ECB to Look Past Trump Risk and Push on with Rate Cuts

The ECB is confident that inflation is heading towards its target. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The ECB is confident that inflation is heading towards its target. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

Despite US President Donald Trump's saber-rattling, the European Central Bank is set to press on with interest rate cuts Thursday as officials increasingly voice confidence that the fight against inflation is on track.

The central bank hiked borrowing costs aggressively from mid-2022 to tame runaway energy and food costs, but is now bringing them back down as price rises slow and the eurozone economy looks weak.

ECB policymakers are expected to cut their benchmark deposit rate by a further quarter point to 2.75 percent on Thursday, its fifth reduction since June last year.

Recent upticks in inflation -- such as a jump to 2.4 percent in December, above the ECB's two-percent target -- have caused some jitters, AFP reported.

But ECB officials have sounded upbeat that the battle to control the pace of price rises remains on course.

"We are confident of seeing inflation at target in the course" of this year, President Christine Lagarde said in an interview with US broadcaster CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The ECB announcement comes a day after the Federal Reserve paused its rate cuts after inflation in the United States ticked up, despite pressure from Trump to further lower borrowing costs.

Felix Schmidt from Berenberg Bank was among economists predicting a fresh rate cut by the ECB Thursday, believing that inflation will ease in 2025.

Falls "in energy prices in particular will push inflation towards two percent as the year progresses," Schmidt said.

Focus on stumbling eurozone

As high rates increasingly pressure households and businesses, the ECB's focus is now firmly on supporting growth in the eurozone, which is languishing amid a manufacturing slowdown and tepid consumer demand.

The poor performance of traditional European powerhouse Germany has weighed heavily, with the collapse of the government in Berlin and early elections adding to the uncertainty.

Political turbulence in heavyweight France, where a new government took office in December following the ouster of its predecessor, is also muddying the outlook.

But the biggest question mark for 2025 is the return to the White House of Trump, who has threatened sweeping tariffs on all imports into the United States, including from the EU.

Any new duties on EU exports to the world's biggest economy could hit the eurozone hard, while the bloc is already under pressure.

Trump "presents a risk," said Berenberg's Schmidt.

The president however appeared to be using tariff threats towards the EU "more as a prelude to negotiations, which means that they can be averted by making certain concessions", Schmidt said.

Lagarde is not expected to offer too many clues about the ECB's next moves as she stays true to the central bank's recent stance of making decisions based on the latest data.

Most analysts, however, believe the ECB will cut rates at least at its next two meetings -- on Thursday, and again in March.

But what happens beyond that is "less certain", said Stephanie Schoenwald, an economist at KfW Research, predicting the "unity" among ECB governing council members "could be over in the spring".

It was already easy to spot different views about how far to go with cuts and "what risks to European price stability emanate from US tariff policy", Schoenwald said.