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)
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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.



Dollar Rises as Traders Mull Ukraine Peace Talks, Trump Tariffs

US Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Dollar Rises as Traders Mull Ukraine Peace Talks, Trump Tariffs

US Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The dollar strengthened against a range of currencies but slipped against the yen on Wednesday, as traders focused on talks over a Ukraine ceasefire and digested the latest round of tariff threats from US President Donald Trump.

The pound, meanwhile, got a short-lived boost from a stronger-than-expected UK inflation print.

The dollar index last stood at 107.2, up 0.19% after dropping 1.2% last week. The yen was stronger against the dollar , up 0.1% at 151.855.

Trump's administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine after an initial meeting that excluded Kyiv, a departure from Washington's previous approach that rallied US allies to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Francesco Pesole, foreign exchange strategist at ING, pointed to the market's base case that a peace deal in Ukraine might be reached at some point. Meanwhile, the European Union's exclusion from the table at peace talks is seen as spurring safe-haven demand into the yen and out of the euro, he said.

The euro was down 0.4% against the yen at 158.25, and down 0.2% against the dollar at $1.0426, Reuters reported.

Pesole highlighted the latest raft of tariff threats from Trump, but said the market was more focused on news around a potential Ukraine peace deal in the short-term.

"There is a residual sort of reluctance in markets to see whether Trump will indeed go ahead with tariffs on trade partners," he said.

Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs "in the neighborhood of 25%" and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, the latest in a series of measures threatening to upend international trade.

"Amid all this chaotic, childish back and forth of the presidential tariff announcements, let's not lose sight of what will ultimately come out of it: probably fewer tariffs than expected when he took office, but still substantial ones," Commerzbank forex analysts and strategists said in a note.

The euro was little moved by remarks from European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel, who on Wednesday told the Financial Times the central bank was edging closer to pausing rate cuts.

In the UK, official data showed inflation speeding up by more than expected to hit a 10-month high of 3.0% in January and is likely to rise further soon, testing the Bank of England's confidence that price pressures will ease over the longer term.

Sterling was down 0.27% at $1.25790, coming off a two-month high hit immediately after the data.

Against the euro, the pound was virtually unchanged at 82.86 pence. Pesole said the relatively safe position of the UK on trade and the latest inflation figures made the pound more attractive than the euro.

Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reduced its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 3.75% on Wednesday as widely expected and signalled future moves would likely be smaller, leaving the currency up 0.2% on the day at $0.5714 .