Foreign Capital Represents 39% of Saudi Industrial Sector Investments

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program aims to achieve integration between the targeted sectors, namely industry, mining, energy and logistics. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program aims to achieve integration between the targeted sectors, namely industry, mining, energy and logistics. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Foreign Capital Represents 39% of Saudi Industrial Sector Investments

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program aims to achieve integration between the targeted sectors, namely industry, mining, energy and logistics. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program aims to achieve integration between the targeted sectors, namely industry, mining, energy and logistics. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said on Sunday that foreign or joint capital investments represent about 39 percent of the total investments in the industrial sector in the Kingdom.

The ministry also revealed that the total number of existing and under construction factories until the end of last May reached 15 percent.

The number of factories with foreign investment in Saudi Arabia reached 839 by the end of May 2022, the ministry said, representing approximately 8 percent of the total number of factories, with investments estimated at more than SR65 billion (USD 17.3 Billion).

The number of joint venture factories in Saudi Arabia reached about 787, constituting 7 percent of the total factories, with investments estimated at more than SR464 billion.

Meanwhile, the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NDLP) has managed to contribute 690.7 billion riyals (USD184 billion) to the Saudi economy during the past year.

The program’s economic activities contributed about SR413.5 billion (USD110 billion) to the real GDP, with a growth rate of 9 percent compared to 2020, in addition to SR231 billion (USD61 billion) for non-oil commodity exports, with a growth of 37 percent.

Saudi Arabia launched the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program in 2019 with the aim of transforming the Kingdom into a leading industrial power and a global platform for logistics services, and achieve integration between the targeted sectors, namely industry, mining, energy and logistics.

According to a recent report by NDLP, the value of re-export operations improved by the end of 2021 to reach SR43.5 billion (USD11.6 billion), compared to SR35.3 billion (USD9.4 billion) in the previous year.

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program is one of the most important and largest of the thirteen programs in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, in terms of its expected positive impact on the Saudi economy.

By 2030, the program aims to increase the contribution of its four sectors - industry, mining, logistics and energy - to the GDP to SR1.2 trillion (USD320 billion), stimulate investments worth more than SR1.7 trillion (USD453.3 billion), and raise the volume of non-oil exports to more than one trillion riyals (USD266 billion), as well as developing the labor market by creating 1.6 million new jobs.



China Seeks to Bolster Ports and Aviation Hubs in Western Regions

The city skyline is reflected in a pool left on the dry riverbed of the receding Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels during a regional drought in Chongqing, China, August 20, 2022.  (Reuters)
The city skyline is reflected in a pool left on the dry riverbed of the receding Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels during a regional drought in Chongqing, China, August 20, 2022. (Reuters)
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China Seeks to Bolster Ports and Aviation Hubs in Western Regions

The city skyline is reflected in a pool left on the dry riverbed of the receding Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels during a regional drought in Chongqing, China, August 20, 2022.  (Reuters)
The city skyline is reflected in a pool left on the dry riverbed of the receding Jialing river, a tributary of the Yangtze, that is approaching record-low water levels during a regional drought in Chongqing, China, August 20, 2022. (Reuters)

China said on Sunday it would launch 15 measures to bolster the development of its western provinces with the construction of logistical infrastructure such as ports and aviation hubs.

The General Administration of Customs said the measures would enhance the integration of rail, air, river and sea links in China's west, state media reported.

The measures are to include enhancing international aviation hubs in cities including Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Xi'an and Urumqi, while developing comprehensive bonded zones, and integrating these with ports and other transport links.

A number of ports would also be built and expanded.

China has long sought to bolster the economic heft of its western regions, which have markedly lagged coastal provinces.

China's western regions comprise around two-thirds of the country's land area and include regions such as Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Tibet.

China's Politburo last year called for a "new urbanization" of western China to revitalize rural areas, expand poverty alleviation efforts and strengthen energy resources. Efforts have also been made to increase linkages to Europe and South Asia through trade corridors including rail freight routes.