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Saudi Arabia Aspires for Real Estate Role in Attracting Foreign Investments

First edition of the Saudi Real Estate Future Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
First edition of the Saudi Real Estate Future Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Aspires for Real Estate Role in Attracting Foreign Investments

First edition of the Saudi Real Estate Future Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
First edition of the Saudi Real Estate Future Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Real Estate Future Forum keeps pace with the government's tendency to attract foreign companies to invest in the Kingdom's real estate sector, asserted Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing Majid al-Hogail on Monday.

Hogail described the forum as an "opportunity to exchange regional and international experiences and views to benefit from them, as it represents an intellectual platform at the local and international levels."

The second edition of the Real Estate Future Forum is set to be launched on Monday in Riyadh, with over 100 speakers and decision-makers from more than 30 countries representing local and international public and private sectors.

The forum is set to discuss the real estate sector's present and future, according to a practical and scientific concept and method based on dialogue and discussion and exchanging ideas and opinions that boost the industry.

The minister indicated that the success of the work and outputs of the forum in its first edition posed a significant challenge to continue this boom in the future.

The forum represents an excellent opportunity to present the Kingdom's experience and government efforts in developing and sustaining the real estate sector, especially the residential sector, said Hogail.

He also noted that it reflected the ministry's achievements in developing the urban environment and the smart and modern building technologies.

The minister named the private sector a "strategic partner" for the public sector in real estate.

He explained that the partnership is based on creating practical solutions to inject housing products that meet the needs of citizens and contribute to increasing the rate of Saudi families' home ownership to 70 percent in 2030, based on the objectives of Vision 2030.

The forum will address the importance of alternative means of settling real estate disputes instead of resorting to time-consuming means through the judiciary.

Participants in the forum sessions and workshops will discuss real estate disputes, arbitration, and the role of reconciliation mechanisms and centers in providing a fair and attractive environment in the Kingdom characterized by confidentiality, impartiality, speed, and high professionalism.

Saudi Arabia plays a significant role in spreading the culture of alternative means to settle real estate disputes following international norms and standards.

The settlement centers, namely the Reconciliation Center of the Justice Ministry and the Saudi Real Estate Arbitration Center, are legally licensed and characterized by a speedy and impartial settlement of real estate disputes, under complete confidentiality.

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World Bank Warns that US Tariffs Could Reduce Global Growth Outlook

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Workers build risers in Freedom Plaza ahead of the Inauguration on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will be sworn in on January 20. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/AFP
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Workers build risers in Freedom Plaza ahead of the Inauguration on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will be sworn in on January 20. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/AFP
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World Bank Warns that US Tariffs Could Reduce Global Growth Outlook

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Workers build risers in Freedom Plaza ahead of the Inauguration on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will be sworn in on January 20. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/AFP
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Workers build risers in Freedom Plaza ahead of the Inauguration on January 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect former Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will be sworn in on January 20. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/AFP

The World Bank on Thursday warned that US across-the-board tariffs of 10% could reduce already lackluster global economic growth of 2.7% in 2025 by 0.3 percentage point if America's trading partners retaliate with tariffs of their own.
Such tariffs, promised by US President-elect Donald Trump, could cut US growth - forecast to reach 2.3% in 2025 - by 0.9% if retaliatory measures are imposed, the bank said, citing economic simulations. But it noted that US growth could also increase by 0.4 percentage point in 2026 if US tax cuts were extended, it said, with only small global spillovers.
Trump, who takes office Monday, has proposed a 10% tariff on global imports, a 25% punitive duty on imports from Canada and Mexico until they clamp down on drugs and migrants crossing borders into the US, and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods.
The World Bank's latest Global Economic Prospect report, issued twice yearly, forecast flat global economic growth of 2.7% in 2025 and 2026, the same as in 2024, and warned that developing economies now faced their weakest long-term growth outlook since 2000, Reuters said.
The multilateral development bank said foreign direct investment into developing economies was now about half the level seen in the early 2000s and global trade restrictions were five times higher than the 2010-2019 average.
It said growth in developing countries is expected to reach 4% in 2025 and 2026, well below pre-pandemic estimates due to high debt burdens, weak investment and sluggish productivity growth, along with rising costs of climate change.
Overall output in emerging markets and development economies was expected to remain more than 5% below its pre-pandemic trend by 2026, due to the pandemic and subsequent shocks, it said.
"The next 25 years will be a tougher slog for developing economies than the last 25," World Bank chief economist Indermit Gil said in a statement, urging countries to adopt domestic reforms to encourage investment and deepen trade relations.
Economic growth in developing countries dropped from nearly 6% in the 2000s to 5.1% in the 2010s and was averaging about 3.5% in the 2020s, the bank said.
It said the gap between rich and poor countries was also widening, with average per capita growth rates in developing countries, excluding China and India, averaging half a percentage point below those in wealth economies since 2014.
The somber outlook echoed comments made last week by the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, ahead of the global lender's own new forecast, to be released on Friday.
"Over the next two years, developing economies could face serious headwinds," the World Bank report said.
"High global policy uncertainty could undercut investor confidence and constrain financing flows. Rising trade tensions could reduce global growth. Persistent inflation could delay expected cuts in interest rates."
The World Bank said it saw more downside risks for the global economy, citing a surge in trade-distorting measures implemented mainly by advanced economies and uncertainty about future policies that was dampening investment and growth.
Global trade in goods and services, which expanded by 2.7% in 2024, is expected to reach an average of about 3.1% in 2025-2026, but to remain below pre-pandemic averages.