Saudi Arabia to Merge Red Sea Project with Amaala

Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia to Merge Red Sea Project with Amaala

Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Company and the Amaala project - two prominent pillars of the tourism transformation within the Kingdom Vision 2030 - revealed that Saudi Arabia intends to raise up to 10 billion riyals (USD 2.67 billion) next year for the Amaala project, one of the largest resort tourism projects in the world.

Amaala and the Red Sea projects, which are being built on the Red Sea coast, are part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify the Kingdom’s economy by promoting new sectors such as tourism. The two projects are also environmentally friendly and will rely on renewable sources of energy.

The planned “green” financing for the Amaala project would follow a larger loan raised earlier this year for the Red Sea Project.

“We will come to the market probably sometime next year with a financing for Amaala specifically related to the first phase of the project,” Pagano told Reuters on Tuesday.

He said the loan was likely to be between 5 and 10 billion riyals and follows the 14 billion riyals raised by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) earlier this year, Reuters reported.

According to the agency, the Red Sea project loan was provided by four Saudi banks to finance 16 new hotels. The Amaala financing will be for nine hotels in the first phase of the project, Pagano said, adding the plan is to open those facilities in 2024.

Meanwhile, Amaala Company reported that it had awarded more than 230 contracts with a total value of 3.6 billion riyals (one billion dollars) for local and international companies.

In a statement on its official Twitter account, the company said that 78% of the contracts were awarded to Saudi companies as part of its commitment to Saudi Vision 2030 and its contribution to supporting the Saudi economy.

Amaala and The Red Sea Project, wholly owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, will most likely merge into the Red Sea Group by the end of this year.

“The coming together of the two organizations is a natural evolution,” Pagano said.



Turkish Stocks Jump as PKK Disbandment Adds to Trade Relief

 People walk on a small street leads that to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk on a small street leads that to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Turkish Stocks Jump as PKK Disbandment Adds to Trade Relief

 People walk on a small street leads that to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk on a small street leads that to the historical Galata Tower in Istanbul, Türkiye, April 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Turkish stocks jumped on Monday, bonds climbed and the lira rallied against the euro as news the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group was ending its four decade-long insurgency in the country added to US-China trade cheer.

Global share markets were enjoying a strong surge after the US and China agreed to slash tariffs, but Turkish equities outstripped most other bourses as they jumped more than 3%.

A PKK member said it was ceasing all military operations "immediately" following the group's decision to disband, a move that could boost NATO member Türkiye's political and economic stability.

The lira was up 1.3% against the euro and steady against the dollar, while its international market bonds, which have been losing ground for the last six months, were up nearly 0.7 cents.

The PKK decision followed an appeal from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in February to disband. It is set to have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region, including in neighboring Iraq and also in Syria, where Kurdish forces are allied with US forces.

Omer Celik, spokesperson for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, said the PKK's decision to dissolve was "an important step toward a terror-free Türkiye".

There have been intermittent peace efforts over the years, most notably a ceasefire between 2013 and 2015 that ultimately collapsed.

The PKK's move should now give Erdogan the opportunity to boost spending in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Türkiye, where the insurgency has handicapped the regional economy for decades.

Analysts welcomed the PKK move but added a note of caution.

"It can only be good news," said Christopher Granville, managing director of EMEA & Global Political Research at investment advisory firm TS Lombard. "But is it decisive for the difficult Turkish investment case?"

He said the PKK issue was ultimately "secondary" to questions about Türkiye's recent arrest of Erdogan's main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, and the broader direction of its macroeconomic policy.

Those concerns have weighed on Turkish markets this year.

MSCI's Türkiye equities index is down more than 13% compared to a near 8% rise in its pan-emerging market index., while lira-denominated government bonds have cost investors more than 8% on a total returns basis.

The cost of insuring Ankara's government debt using Credit Default Swaps (CDS) has also shot up, although Monday's rally saw that ease back.

"A continuation of the pullback (in CDS levels) ... may support banking stocks, which have been the negatively differentiated sector in BIST (Turkish stocks index) in the last 2 months," Garanti BBVA Yatirim's Director Ozgur Yurtdasseven said.

Turkish banking stocks were up 3.8% on the day, but remain more than 16% down on the year in lira terms and more than 20% in dollar terms.