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Saudi Shura Council Calls for Establishing Digital Branches for Social Development Bank

The Saudi Shura Council called on the Social Development Bank to take the initiative and prepare a technical study to replace some of its rented offices with digital branches. (Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi Shura Council called on the Social Development Bank to take the initiative and prepare a technical study to replace some of its rented offices with digital branches. (Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Shura Council Calls for Establishing Digital Branches for Social Development Bank

The Saudi Shura Council called on the Social Development Bank to take the initiative and prepare a technical study to replace some of its rented offices with digital branches. (Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi Shura Council called on the Social Development Bank to take the initiative and prepare a technical study to replace some of its rented offices with digital branches. (Asharq Al-Awsat

The Saudi Shura Council called on the Social Development Bank to take the initiative and prepare a technical study to replace some of its rented offices with digital branches, through which services are provided efficiently and sustainably.

The Shura Council reviewed several annual reports during its tenth regular session for the second year of the eighth term.

Council member Salah al-Talib stressed the need to transfer the objectives of business financing activity through supporting small, emerging, and micro-enterprises.

He also called for transferring financing programs and products to the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank.

The Social Development Bank is requested to clarify the number of male and female beneficiaries, the mechanisms for benefiting from indirect loans, methods to receive aid provided to charitable societies, the size of the loans, and the working tools, announced member Mohammed al-Abbas.

The Council issued several decisions regarding the annual report of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), namely reviewing relations with various authorities to enable cloud services and speed up the transition of public and private sectors from traditional IT solutions to the cloud.

The Council also decided to support amateurs and researchers to ensure the best use following the national plan in this field, which contributes to achieving the programs of Vision 2030.

It emphasized the importance of integration and cooperation of government agencies to achieve the desired goals of the uses of the frequency spectrum.

The Council also called on the Commission to financially support the initiative aiming to spread broadband networks to complete the connection of housing in cities and governorates with fiber-optic networks.

Concerning the annual report of the General Authority for Audiovisual Media, the Council stressed the need to expedite the study of the impact of exempting the authority’s financial deduction from tickets for public entry to showrooms on increasing attendance and strengthening the industry in the Kingdom.

It also called for organizing its estimated budget based on the actual expenditure and increasing its income from services and licenses that it provides.

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Syria Begins Circulating New Post-Assad Currency Bills

Syria begins circulating new post-Assad currency bill (The Associated Press)
Syria begins circulating new post-Assad currency bill (The Associated Press)
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Syria Begins Circulating New Post-Assad Currency Bills

Syria begins circulating new post-Assad currency bill (The Associated Press)
Syria begins circulating new post-Assad currency bill (The Associated Press)

Syria started the process of circulating new currency bills on Saturday as the crisis-hit nation seeks to stabilize the economy as it recovers from the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

A decree issued earlier this week by President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that “old Syrian currency” will be gradually withdrawn from circulation according to a timetable set by the central bank and through designated exchange centers.

Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer posted on X that after months of preparations, the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes officially began Saturday morning.

The presidential decree posted on the SANA state news agency stipulates that "new Syrian currency” will be issued by removing two zeros from the nominal value of the old currency. It means every 100 Syrian pounds of the old currency will now equate to one Syrian pound.

The largest denomination of the old currency was 5,000 Syrian pound, while under the new currency it is 500 pounds.

The US dollar was selling at exchange shops in Damascus on Saturday for 11,800 pounds for the old banknotes, some of which bear the images of Assad and his late father and predecessor, Hafez Assad.

At the start of Syria’s conflict in mid-March 2011, the US dollar was worth 47 Syrian pounds.

Since insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham marched into Damascus in December 2024 to end the Assad family's 54-year rule, work has been ongoing by the country’s new authorities to improve the economy battered by years of war and Western sanctions.

The US and the European Union have removed most of the sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule.

Business

Erdogan Hails 2.6 bln Euro Jet Deal with Spain

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. (Reuters)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. (Reuters)
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Erdogan Hails 2.6 bln Euro Jet Deal with Spain

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. (Reuters)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attends a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 30, 2022. (Reuters)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday welcomed an agreement under which Spain will procure Turkish-made HURJET training aircraft, describing it as evidence of Türkiye's "pioneering role" in defense and aviation industry.

Under the deal, signed this week, the Spanish Air Force will acquire 30 HURJET aircraft from Türkiye in a contract valued at around 2.6 billion euros, according to Turkish officials.

Speaking at an event in Istanbul, Erdogan said Türkiye had become a globally recognized player in the defense and aviation sectors.

"Most recently, the agreement we concluded with Spain has confirmed our country's pioneering role in this field," Erdogan said.

He added that the inclusion of HURJET in the inventory of a European Union and NATO member state would further expand Türkiye's opportunities in the coming years.

On Tuesday, Haluk Gorgun, head of Türkiye's defense industry agency, described the agreement as more than a simple aircraft sale.

"This is not merely a training aircraft deal," Gorgun said. "It is a comprehensive package that includes ground systems, simulation systems, maintenance and sustainment services, as well as a cooperation model."

He added that the agreement underscored the deepening of defense industry and high-technology cooperation between Türkiye and Spain, noting that the aircraft configuration would be updated over time to meet Spain's specific operational requirements.

Türkiye has steadily expanded its defense exports in recent years, including drones that have been sold to multiple countries.

Erdogan said Türkiye's defense exports, which stood at $248 million in 2002, had increased nearly 40 fold to reach $9.8 billion in 2025.

Business

Venezuela's Oil Facilities Unscathed in US Strike

The logo of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen on a fuel tank truck, in Caracas, Venezuela May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
The logo of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen on a fuel tank truck, in Caracas, Venezuela May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
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Venezuela's Oil Facilities Unscathed in US Strike

The logo of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen on a fuel tank truck, in Caracas, Venezuela May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria
The logo of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seen on a fuel tank truck, in Caracas, Venezuela May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

Venezuela's state-run oil production and refining were operating normally on Saturday ​and suffered no damage from a US strike to extract the country's president, two sources with knowledge of the operations of energy company PDVSA said.

US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump said, after months of pressuring ‌him over accusations ‌of drug-running and illegitimacy ‌in ⁠power.

The ​port ‌of La Guaira near Caracas, one of the country's largest but one not used for oil exports, was reported to have suffered severe damage, one of the sources said.

Trump in December announced a blockade ⁠of oil tankers entering or leaving the country and ‌the US seized two ‍cargoes of Venezuelan oil.

That ‍lowered the OPEC country's exports last ‍month to about half of the 950,000 barrels per day (bpd) it shipped in November, according to monitoring data and internal documents.

The US measures ​prompted many vessel owners to divert away from Venezuelan waters, which has ⁠rapidly increased PDVSA's inventories of crude and fuel.

PDVSA has been forced to slow down deliveries at ports and store oil on tankers to avoid crude output or refining cut-backs.

PDVSA's administrative system also has not fully recovered from a cyberattack in December that forced it to isolate terminals, oilfields and refineries from its central system and to ‌resort to written records to continue operations.