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Saudi Arabia Spends USD125 Bn in First Half of 2020

A man counts Saudi Riyal banknotes in a jewelry store story in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 18, 2017. (Reuters)
A man counts Saudi Riyal banknotes in a jewelry store story in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 18, 2017. (Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia Spends USD125 Bn in First Half of 2020

A man counts Saudi Riyal banknotes in a jewelry store story in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 18, 2017. (Reuters)
A man counts Saudi Riyal banknotes in a jewelry store story in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 18, 2017. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia spent SAR468 billion (USD125 billion) during the first half of 2020, according to a statistical document obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat.

Total contracts secured via Etimad reached 57,600 with a value of over SAR84 billion (USD22.4 billion). Total contracts for the same period last year reached SAR167 billion.

According to the document, users of Etimad reached 103,000 by the end of the first half of 2020, a 43 percent rise, compared to 72,500 during the same period of last year.

Competitions for the first half of 2020 increased to 13,700, or 57 percent, compared to the first half of 2019. Calls for direct purchasing dropped to 55,300, or 24 percent, compared to the first half of last year.

Separately, lender HSBC arranged a USD258 million export credit agency (ECA) loan for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance. HSBC acted as a mandated lead arranger (MLA), an original lender, and the agent bank for the loan, which is the first Green ECA loan in the Kingdom.

The proceeds of the loan are being used to purchase buses from Germany for the Kingdom’s public transport network. The buses will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, as well as alleviate traffic congestion in Riyadh through a shift towards public transportation.

The use of proceeds and reporting features of the facility deems it compliant with the “Green Loan Principles”, published by the Loan Market Association on March 21, 2018, a statement read.

The loan has also received support from the official ECA of the Federal Republic of Germany. Loans backed by ECAs are popular with regional borrowers as a means of diversifying their funding sources while securing attractive financing terms.

Gareth Thomas, HSBC’s head of global banking, Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, said: “Saudi Arabia is embarking on one of the world’s most ambitious economic transformation programs and by securing its first-ever Green ECA financing it has once again demonstrated its regional leadership in debt markets. HSBC was delighted to play a part in another important milestone for the Kingdom.”

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Business

Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
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Alibaba Proposes Hong Kong Share Placement Worth $10 Billion

FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo/File Photo

China's Alibaba announced on Sunday a proposed placement of new shares in Hong Kong.

The aggregate placement consideration is HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion), the company added, according to Reuters.

Alibaba said the ⁠deal would mark ⁠the largest-ever primary follow-on offering by a Hong Kong-listed company and the biggest Regulation S ⁠equity offering on record, while ranking as the world's third-largest primary follow-on share sale this year after Alphabet and Intel.

The company said it intends to use 100% of the net ⁠proceeds from ⁠the placement to invest in its full stack AI capabilities, including expanding and enhancing its AI infrastructure.

Business

South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
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South Korea Sends 1st Container Ship Through Arctic Route

The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)
The container ship 'Panstar Acoro,' bound for Europe via the Arctic, docks at Busan port in South Korea on August 22, 2026 (Yonhap News Agency via Reuters)

South Korea sent its first trial container ship through the Arctic on Saturday, as the Middle East war rattles global shipping, while environmental groups warned the route could accelerate polar ice melt.

The Middle East conflict, sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, has roiled global shipping, sending governments and shipping firms scrambling to seek alternative routes.

Sailing from Busan New Port, the "PanStar Acro" container ship is to sail to Europe via the Arctic, testing whether a route opened by melting sea ice can be commercially viable.

"We would like to inform you that the vessel for the Arctic route trial voyage departed" at 9:30 pm (1230 GMT), Seoul's oceans ministry said in a statement sent to AFP.

The ship is headed for Felixstowe in Britain, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland before returning, with the voyage expected to take about 45 days, according to the ministry.

The voyage follows that of the Chinese container ship "Dubai Tower", which left the eastern port city of Ningbo for Europe this month, heading north through the Bering Strait before turning west along Russia's Arctic coast.

The usual maritime route between Asia and Europe runs through the Suez Canal, but travelling through the Arctic can cut the journey by around 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) and about 10 days, according to the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

South Korea's Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-hon said the Arctic route was "bound to become an alternative" to Middle Eastern shipping lanes -- as geopolitical risks and technological advances make it increasingly competitive.

Marc Lanteigne, a political science professor at the Arctic University of Norway, said the voyage -- coming soon after China's "Dubai Tower" began its own Arctic journey -- showed the Northern Sea Route (NSR) was becoming normalized as a "secondary maritime transit corridor".

A successful voyage would demonstrate South Korea's interest in "developing alternative shipping sea lanes", he told AFP, with concerns that it could fall behind as Chinese firms expand regular services through the increasingly viable Arctic route.

Some experts warn South Korean ships using the Arctic route could risk breaching Western sanctions on Russia -- currently a key security ally of North Korea -- as they would receive Russian navigation and weather services involving payments, albeit small ones.

South Korea's foreign ministry declined to comment when asked by AFP about the concerns involving Russia.

The oceans ministry said this week that "consultations with key relevant countries and agencies" have been completed to "implement administrative procedures necessary" for the voyage.

Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said "strictly speaking, US and EU sanctions are not international law, unlike UN sanctions".

"And with continued uncertainty in the Middle East... South Korea may have few alternatives if the Arctic route proves economically viable," he told AFP.

Lanteigne said China's Northern Sea Route ambitions were more politically driven than South Korea's, with Beijing viewing the polar regions as "strategic new frontiers", raising Western security concerns.

Meanwhile, environmental groups warned growing traffic along the shorter NSR could accelerate Arctic sea ice loss already driven by global warming.

Major carriers including CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have pledged to avoid Arctic shipping routes.

The NSR is believed to be accessible only during the time of year when the ice is melted enough to allow transits without icebreakers.

"The Northern Sea Route has become increasingly viable as the Arctic warms about four times faster than the global average, leading to a sharp decline in sea ice," South Korean environmental group Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center said in a statement last year.

"But making the route commercially viable would require further warming, putting the policy at odds with efforts to combat climate change."

Business

Canada to Impose Retaliatory Across a Raft of US Sectors, Carney Says

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Canada to Impose Retaliatory Across a Raft of US Sectors, Carney Says

Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada's response to new US tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday that starting September 8 Canada would impose tariffs on imports from the United States across a raft of sectors in retaliation for President Donald Trump's new 50% tariffs that came into effect from midnight.

After days of intense negotiations, the two countries failed to reach a ‌trade deal late ‌Friday, worsening an already ‌delicate relationship ⁠between the two ⁠long-term trade partners and allies and complicating the future of a highly successful continental free trade pact called the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

Trump's new tariffs hit a slew of sectors including furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing ⁠rods, hockey equipment and cover some $20 billion ‌of Canadian exports south ‌of the border.

These duties do not ‌give exemption to Canadian products under the USMCA, ‌which have shielded most of Canadian exports to the USin the last 18 months.

"Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar ‌in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses," Carney said at ⁠a ⁠news conference.

These retaliatory tariffs will hit sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics and will also include products currently subject to the unjustified Section 232 and 338 tariffs, Carney said in a spirited speech from the Parliament building in Ottawa.

"We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked," Carney said.