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.



Lucid Beats Estimates for EV Deliveries

A Lucid Motors facility is pictured in Costa Mesa, California, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
A Lucid Motors facility is pictured in Costa Mesa, California, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
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Lucid Beats Estimates for EV Deliveries

A Lucid Motors facility is pictured in Costa Mesa, California, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
A Lucid Motors facility is pictured in Costa Mesa, California, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)

Lucid Group reported record fourth-quarter deliveries on Monday, surpassing Wall Street expectations for quarterly deliveries, as the Saudi Arabia-backed maker of luxury electric vehicles lowered prices and offered cheaper financing to drive demand.

The company’s shares rose 7.6% before trading began on Monday.

The EV maker has lowered prices and offered incentives including cheaper financing to woo customers away from cheaper hybrid vehicles amid high interest rates.

The company handed over 3,099 vehicles in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with estimates of 2,637, according to six analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

That represented growth of 11% over the third quarter and 78% higher than the fourth quarter a year earlier.

Production rose about 42% year-over-year to 3,386 vehicles in the reported quarter, surpassing estimates of 2,904 units.

For 2024, production rose 7% to 9,029 vehicles, topping the company's target of 9,000 vehicles. Annual deliveries grew 71% to 10,241 vehicles.

Lucid started taking orders for its Gravity SUV in November, in a bid to enter the lucrative SUV sector and take some market share from Rivian and Tesla.

Rivian on Friday topped analysts' estimates for quarterly deliveries and said its production was no longer constrained by a component shortage.

But Tesla reported its first fall in yearly deliveries, in part due to the company's aging lineup.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) first invested in Lucid in 2018, and steadily accumulated more shares until it held a majority ownership when the startup went public in 2021 through a combination with a special purpose acquisition company.

Lucid raised $3 billion from an offering of common stock and an investment by PIF announced in May of last year.

The company also raised $1.75 billion in October through a stock sale that CEO Peter Rawlinson believes will provide Lucid with a "cash runway well into 2026".

Lucid is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 25.