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Zain Saudi Arabia Discusses Debts with Ministry of Finance

Saudi Ministry of Finance (Asharq al-Awsat)
Saudi Ministry of Finance (Asharq al-Awsat)
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Zain Saudi Arabia Discusses Debts with Ministry of Finance

Saudi Ministry of Finance (Asharq al-Awsat)
Saudi Ministry of Finance (Asharq al-Awsat)

Zain Saudi Arabia has started a new round of talks with the Kingdom’s Ministry of Finance to convert the debt it owes, or at least part of them, into shares.

The third telecom operator in the Kingdom may convert the entire debt or part of it into shares, it said in a bourse filing to the Tadawul stock exchange on Monday, without specifying the amount it owes to the Ministry or when it expects to finalize talks.

Zain has “started discussions to convert whole or part of the outstanding debts due to the ministry into shares in the company through partially underwriting the proposed rights issues or any other means (the Transaction),” it said in the statement.

“The transaction shall be subject to the discussion’s outcomes and shall obtain all necessary approvals from governmental and regulatory bodies such as Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC), Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the company’s extraordinary general assembly.”

Its announcement followed a previous announcement on October 25, 2017, related to the board of directors’ recommendation to reduce the company's capital and a subsequent capital increase through a rights issue.

Considering Zain Saudi Arabia's financial performance, the company made a profit of SAR260 million ($69.3 million) in H1 2019, compared to a loss of SAR115 million ($30.6 million) during the same period in 2018.

In H1 2019, it recorded the highest revenue for the six-month period in its history, with revenues amounting to SAR4.15 billion riyals ($1.1 billion), compared to SAR3.5 billion ($933.3 million) during the same period in 2018, marking an increase of 17.5 percent due to increased demand for the company’s products and services.

In a related context, the Saudi stock market closed Monday with very positive gains, pushing again the index to exceed the levels of 8,550 points, driven by the rise of most shares of companies trading in the financial market.

Saudi Arabia's index ended its tradings with 0.5 percent up to close at 8,566 points, up 38 points, amid trades totaling about SAR3.4 billion ($906.6 million).

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Trump Vows New Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China

FILE PHOTO: US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, US, November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, US, November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Trump Vows New Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China

FILE PHOTO: US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, US, November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, US, November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

US President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Monday to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.

He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.

In a series of posts to his Truth Social account, Trump vowed to hit some of the United States' largest trading partners with duties on all goods entering the country.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff on ALL products coming into the United States,” he wrote, according to AFP.

He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

The President ignored the US, Mexico and Canada three-decade-old free trade agreement, now called the USMCA.

In another post, Trump said he would also be slapping China with a 10% tariff, “above any additional Tariffs,” in response to what he said was its failure to tackle fentanyl smuggling.

“No one will win a trade war,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China's embassy in the United States, told AFP by email, defending Beijing's efforts to curb fentanyl smuggling.

“China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature,” Liu added.

Canada said it was “essential” to US energy supplies, and insisted the relationship benefits American workers.

“We will of course continue to discuss these issues with the incoming administration,” said the statement from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Tariffs are a key part of Trump's economic agenda, with the Republican vowing wide-ranging duties on allies and adversaries alike while he was on the campaign trail.

Many economists have warned that tariffs would hurt growth and push up inflation, since they are primarily paid by importers bringing the goods into the US, who often pass those costs on to consumers.

But those in Trump's inner circle have insisted that the tariffs are a useful bargaining chip for the US to push its trading partners to agree to more favorable terms, and to bring back manufacturing jobs from overseas.