Saudi Arabia Allocates $28Bln for Water Projects

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman al-Fadley announced the allocation of SAR105 billion for water projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman al-Fadley announced the allocation of SAR105 billion for water projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Allocates $28Bln for Water Projects

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman al-Fadley announced the allocation of SAR105 billion for water projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman al-Fadley announced the allocation of SAR105 billion for water projects. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman al-Fadley announced the allocation of SAR105 billion ($28 billion) for water projects within the five-year capital portfolio of the environment, water and agriculture system.

He said that the portfolio includes around 1,300 projects as part of the first package of the projects listed in the water sector.

The projects are in line with the Kingdom’s efforts to improve the level of services in the sector and maximize the utilization of sources and assets.

They are part of the National Water Strategy and aim to achieve the ministry's objectives that include developing and preserving water resources, as well as protecting the environment and providing safe supply, high quality and efficient services.

Fadley stressed that this step will contribute to the economic and social development in the Kingdom in line with Vision 2030.

Separately, the Ministry will launch on Monday the shrimp fishing season 2022, which will end in January 2023.

It issued permits for more than 1,827 large and small boats to fish during the season along the coast of the Arabian Gulf.

More than 15,500 tons of shrimp were netted last year, while the prices of 16 kilograms of shrimps ranged between SAR200 for small shrimps and SAR700 for large shrimps.



German Central Bank Chief: US Tariffs Would Eat Up German Growth in 2025

President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
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German Central Bank Chief: US Tariffs Would Eat Up German Growth in 2025

President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward
President of the Bundesbank, Dr Joachim Nagel, speaks during an interview at the G20 finance meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 17, 2025. REUTERS/Rogan Ward

The Bundebank expects growth of 0.7% in Germany in 2026 but this could be eaten up if US tariffs of 30% threatened by President Donald Trump were implemented, the central bank's President Joachim Nagel told Reuters in an interview.

“If tariffs materialize in August, a recession in Germany in 2025 cannot be ruled out,” Nagel said in Durban, South Africa, where the meeting of G20 finance chiefs is taking place on Thursday and Friday.

The 30% tariff on European goods threatened by Trump would, if implemented, be a game-changer for Europe, wiping out whole chunks of transatlantic commerce and forcing a rethink of its export-led economic model.

“The outlook for the German economy has just improved, especially due to the fiscal program that has been announced and is now being implemented by the German federal government, which also sets the right accents: investments in infrastructure, in future technologies,” Nagel said. “But this uncertainty could significantly weaken a positive outlook.”

Also, German Finance Minister Klingbeil told Reuters on Thursday that the European Union should find solutions to its finances without using common borrowing.

Klingbeil said the EU had joint debt in the last few years, but that was in a crisis situation during the COVID pandemic, he said in an interview on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Durban, South Africa.

“Overall, we need to resolve the finances of the EU differently than through a policy of joint debt,” he said.

“Fortunately, we are not in such a crisis right now,” he added.