Saudi Arabia Confirms Abundance of Basic Commodities

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Arabia Confirms Abundance of Basic Commodities

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, Asharq Al-Awsat

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of the Food Security Committee, Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen AlFadley, confirmed that the supplies and stocks of food commodities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are reassuring, and there are no concerns about abundance in the local markets against the backdrop of the current Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

According to the food security strategy and the committees formed to follow up on its implementation, the Kingdom has strengthened stocks of basic food commodities to maintain the stability of the local supply.

Al-Fadley pointed out that “the supply chains of agricultural, animal and food commodities are safe, reliable and continuous in light of the volume of local production of many basic commodities and the achievement of high sufficiency rates for many of them.”

He also referred to the multiplicity of import origins globally for the commodities from which they are imported, a matter that excludes any shortage of supply because of the crisis.

He added that the Food Abundance Committee, emanating from the Food Security Committee, is holding continuously during this period to monitor the abundance of food commodities in the local market, and to follow up on global and local supply chains.

With regard to local stocks of basic food commodities (wheat, rice, sugar, edible oils, poultry meat, red meat, fish, eggs, milk and its derivatives, vegetables and fruits, dates, barley, maize, soybeans, and green fodder), he explained that they are all at safe levels and there are no concerns of any shortage in the quantities supplied.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Al-Fadley emphasized the strength and durability of the food system in the Kingdom.

“The Kingdom’s handling during the coronavirus pandemic with its repercussions outweigh the current crisis, was a model to be followed, as the food commodity markets in the Kingdom did not experience any shortage in supply, and the Kingdom was ranked as one of the best countries in the world in the abundance of food,” he said.



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."