New System for Companies in Saudi Arabia Competes with Int’l Business Environments

A night view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP)
A night view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP)
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New System for Companies in Saudi Arabia Competes with Int’l Business Environments

A night view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP)
A night view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP)

The Shura Council approved on Monday a new system for companies, aimed at developing the trade environment in the Kingdom and moving it to a better stage that competes with other international business environments.

Fahd Al-Takhifi, council member and Chairman of the Trade and Investment Committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new system provides an incubating and stimulating regulatory environment for initiative and investment, boosts the value of companies, develops their activities and contributes to supporting the national economy.

All this will reflect positively on the country’s leadership position and its competitive advantages.

Takhifi indicated that the current project, in its entirety, sought to achieve several goals in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

Moreover, it supports the growth of the entrepreneurship sector and SMEs and ensures the availability of fair practices for the principles of corporate governance and institutional work.

According to Takhifi, the system includes basic principles and provisions with the aim of reducing disputes between stakeholders, ensuring fair treatment of all partners and shareholders, enhancing the rights of customers, facilitating attracting capital, providing long-term funding sources at the lowest costs, and developing the regular environment for non-profit work.

The importance of the system lies in being one of the main tributaries to achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's vision, said Takhifi, explaining that it does so through increasing the participation of the private sector and boosting the value and development of companies to the Kingdom's GDP.



Egyptian Inflation Climbs to 13.9% in April

 Cotton candy vendors walk during a dusty weather, before expected sandstorm, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP)
Cotton candy vendors walk during a dusty weather, before expected sandstorm, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP)
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Egyptian Inflation Climbs to 13.9% in April

 Cotton candy vendors walk during a dusty weather, before expected sandstorm, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP)
Cotton candy vendors walk during a dusty weather, before expected sandstorm, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP)

Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation accelerated to 13.9% in April from 13.6% in March, matching analyst expectations, data from statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Saturday.

Month on month, prices were 1.5% higher at the end of April than at end-March. Food and beverage prices decelerated by 1.5%. Annually, food and beverage prices rose by 6.0%.

The median forecast of analysts polled by Reuters was for annual inflation to have climbed to 13.9%. They cited an increase in the official price of fuel as the main cause.

Inflation soared following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, which prompted foreign investors to withdraw billions of dollars from Egyptian treasuries. Headline inflation rose by a record 38.0% in September 2023.

M2 money supply expanded in the year to end-March, but at a slower rate, dropping to 25.8% from an all-time high of 33.9% at the end of February, central bank data showed.

Egypt devalued its currency, raised interest rates by 600 basis points and signed an $8 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund in March last year, helping to bring its finances under control.