Saudi Arabia Plans to Privatize Grain Silos

Saudi Grain Silos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Grain Silos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Plans to Privatize Grain Silos

Saudi Grain Silos (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Grain Silos (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia is planning to sell its grain silos as part of the kingdom's privatization drive after the sales of the flour mills last month were completed with great success.

Bloomberg reported that the state-owned Saudi Grains Organization (SGO) aims to start selling silo sites as soon as this year.

SAGO will seek bids from foreign and local firms; however, no decisions have been made and SAGO may retain the assets, according to people familiar with the matter.

In April, the National Center for Privatization (NCP) and SAGO announced that the third milling company was sold to investors, bringing the total sale of the four companies to $2 billion.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources launched a digital platform Monday, which it said facilitates access to all services through several channels and electronic services in the easiest way and the latest technology.

The Ministry pointed out the digital platform comes as the ministry seeks to facilitate the work of industry and mining partners.

The platform has several advantages: the speedy completion of services, saving time and effort, making the latest information and statistics available to researchers and investors, and facilitating access to the ministry’s services, according to the Ministry.

In other news, Almarai company announced new investments worth $1.7 billion aiming to double the production operations in poultry in the Kingdom through three phases until 2026.

These investments will increase the company’s share of chilled chicken, along with increasing its production and share of frozen poultry.

The company’s market share currently stands at about 34 percent in chilled poultry, and 12 percent of the total sector.

The production after investment will increase to 450 million birds per year, while the Kingdom's imports of the poultry sector are nearly 45 percent.



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."