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Saudi Industrial Production Index Sees Upward Growth

The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) continued its upward growth as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) continued its upward growth as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Industrial Production Index Sees Upward Growth

The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) continued its upward growth as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) continued its upward growth as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi industrial production index (IPI) has continued its upward growth since May 2021, after negative growth rates in 2019 and 2020 that were caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) revealed that IPI increased 16.8 percent compared to August of 2021, as it continued to achieve positive growth trends due to high production in mining, quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, and gas supply.

The relative rates of the mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and electricity and gas supply sectors in the IPI are 74.5 percent, 22.6 percent, and 2.9 percent, respectively.

In August 2022, mining and quarrying increased by 15.5 percent compared to the same month in 2021.

Saudi Arabia increased its oil production to reach the highest level of more than 11 million barrels per day in 2022.

The manufacturing continued to rise as the activity performance increased 22 percent in August, compared to the same month last year, and electricity and gas supplies showed an increase of 11.3 percent.

The Authority said the impact of growth in the electricity and gas supplies index on the IPI was limited due to its small impact in the index.

It stated that the IPI continued to show favorable growth due to the high production. Looking at the long-term, the IPI growth became positive in May 2021 and continued its upward trend during the following months, accelerating at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced the qualification of eight local companies to compete for an exploration license for gypsum ore in the al-Qasab mining site.

The site, with an area of 600,00 sqm, is located south of the Nabat Center in the al-Madinah region, according to the Ministry.

The Ministry revealed the qualified companies are Saudi National Gypsum, el-Khayyat Gypsum, the United Cement Industrial Co., Global Gypsum Co., United Mining Industries Co., Mada Gypsum Co., and ASK Gypsum Factory.

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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.