عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Saudi Arabia Establishes Ministerial Panel to Fight Commercial Fraud

Saudi Arabia is keen on fighting commercial cover-up by using technology and artificial intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is keen on fighting commercial cover-up by using technology and artificial intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

Saudi Arabia Establishes Ministerial Panel to Fight Commercial Fraud

Saudi Arabia is keen on fighting commercial cover-up by using technology and artificial intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is keen on fighting commercial cover-up by using technology and artificial intelligence (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has established a ministerial committee to oversee the national program to combat commercial cover-up and to propose solutions and initiatives to eliminate the practice.

The government decision comes in light of financial estimates over the effect of the commercial cover-up on the national economy, incurring losses estimated at more than $93.3 billion annually.

The committee is expected to watch over the implementation of initiatives and develop indicators to measure the performance of all relevant authorities.

Under the government decision, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) shall build an index to measure the percentage of suspected cases of commercial cover-up and update it periodically according to the data received from concerned authorities.

The Ministries of Commerce and Human Resources and Social Development, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the General Authority of Zakat and Tax (GAZT) and any other body named by the Supervisory Committee shall provide SDAIA with the necessary data for the indicator for measuring suspected cases of cover-up on a quarterly basis, the decision added.

It stipulated that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs develop a plan that obliges all grocery stores to implement the updated municipal requirements for their activity and work and ensure their implementation within the specified time frame.

The ministry was also ordered to prepare an indicator to measure the sector’s adherence to the requirements and submit it to the Council of Economic and Development Affairs within 60 days.

The Supervisory Committee to Combat Commercial Cover-up is chaired by the Minister of Commerce and shall include under the latest decision the ministers of transport and environment, water and agriculture, and the SDAIA president.

It is noteworthy that the national program was established to address commercial cover-up in all sectors and stimulate e-commerce and the use of technological solutions.

The program also organizes financial transactions to reduce the exit of funds, promote private sector growth and create a competitive environment that attracts Saudis and encourages them to invest and find solutions to the problem of foreigners' illegal ownership in the private sector.

In this context, economic analyst Dr. Mohammed bin Dulaim al-Qahtani told Asharq Al-Awsat that the size of commercial cover-up in the Kingdom is estimated at SAR350 billion ($93.3 billion) annually in various sectors.

He said the Saudi citizens are contributing in this for the benefit of foreign workers, whether by allowing them to use their name, license, commercial register, or in any other means.

According to Qahtani, the previously announced national program will be based on developing regulations and legislation, intensifying means of monitoring, promoting the principle of continuous awareness and uniting the efforts of the public and private sectors.

The program is considered a qualitative leap that would control practices hindering the progress in the Saudi economy and the implementation of the Kingdom Vision 2030’s national transformation programs and initiatives.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

China's Economy Grows 5% in 2025, Buoyed by Strong Exports Despite Trump's Tariffs

A deliver worker transfers the merchandise outside the Ritan International Trade Center in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A deliver worker transfers the merchandise outside the Ritan International Trade Center in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
TT
TT

China's Economy Grows 5% in 2025, Buoyed by Strong Exports Despite Trump's Tariffs

A deliver worker transfers the merchandise outside the Ritan International Trade Center in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A deliver worker transfers the merchandise outside the Ritan International Trade Center in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China's economy expanded at a 5% annual pace in 2025, buoyed by strong exports despite US President Donald Trump's tariffs.

However, growth slowed to a 4.5% rate in the last quarter of the year, the government said Monday. That was the slowest quarterly growth since late 2022, when China was beginning to loosen stringent COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. The economy, the world’s second largest, grew at a 4.8% annual pace in the previous quarter.

China’s leaders have been trying to spur faster growth after a slump in the property market and disruptions from the pandemic rippled through the economy.

As expected, annual growth last year was in line with the government’s official target for an expansion of “around 5%.”

In quarterly terms, the economy grew 1.2% in October to December.

Strong exports helped to compensate for weak consumer spending and business investment, contributing to a record trade surplus of $1.2 trillion.

Chinese exports to the US suffered after President Donald Trump returned to office early last year and began raising tariffs. But that decline was offset by shipments to the rest of the world. Soaring imports of Chinese goods are leading some other governments to take action to protect local industries, in some cases raising import duties, The Associated Press reported.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to extend a truce in their bruising tariffs war, also helping to alleviate pressure on China’s exports. But China's exports to the US still fell 20% last year.

“The key question is how long this engine of growth can remain the primary driver,” Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch bank ING wrote in a recent note. “Should more economies also start ramping up tariffs on China, as Mexico has done and the EU has threatened to do, eventually, a tighter squeeze will be seen."

China’s leaders have repeatedly highlighted boosting domestic demand as a policy focus, but their effects have so far been limited. A trade-in program for drivers to replace older cars with more energy-efficient models, for example, has been losing steam in recent months.

“Stabilization, not necessarily recovery, of the domestic property market is key to revive public confidence and, hence household consumption and private investment growth,” said Chi Lo, senior market strategist for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

China has also provided trade-in subsidies for home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and TVs. While major consumer stimulus policies in 2025 -- including such subsidies -- are set to continue in 2026, they may be scaled back, Weiheng Chen, global investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said in a recent note.

Investments in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies remain a key priority for China’s ruling Communist Party as it moves to boost self-reliance and rival the US.

Meanwhile, many ordinary Chinese and small businesses are struggling with tough times and troubling uncertainty over jobs and incomes.

Liu Fengyun, a 53-year-old noodle restaurant owner in a small county in southwestern China’s Guizhou province, said business has become very difficult these days. Some of her customers told her that “money is hard to earn now” and “making breakfast at home is cheaper.”

“People all say, ‘The overall environment is not good right now — what more can you expect? People don’t have money anymore. Nothing is easy to do now,’” Liu said.

Kang Yi, head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, on Monday told reporters that China’s economy had sustained "steady progress in 2025 despite multiple pressures” and has “solid foundations" in countering risks.

Some economists and analysts believe China’s actual economic growth in 2025 was slower than official data suggest. The Rhodium Group, a think tank, said last month it expected China’s economy to grow only by 2.5% to 3% last year.

The Chinese economy expanded at a 5% annual rate in 2024, and 5.2% in 2023, according to government data. Ambitious official growth targets have also trended down over the past few years, from 6% to 6.5% in 2019 to “around 5%” in 2025.

A slower annual expansion is expected for 2026. Deutsche Bank forecasts that China’s economy will grow about 4.5% in 2026.

A strong and stable economy is considered crucial for social stability, a primary priority for China's leaders. While China could probably maintain social stability even at lower economic growth rates, Beijing “wants the economy to keep growing”, said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

China likely needs to sustain a roughly 4%-5% annual expansion in order to reach its soft target by 2035 of $20,000 gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, he said.

Business

Oil Down as Easing Iran Unrest Dampens Geopolitical Risk Premium

FILE PHOTO: The LyondellBasell refinery, located near the Houston Ship Channel, is seen in Houston, Texas, US, May 5, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The LyondellBasell refinery, located near the Houston Ship Channel, is seen in Houston, Texas, US, May 5, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
TT
TT

Oil Down as Easing Iran Unrest Dampens Geopolitical Risk Premium

FILE PHOTO: The LyondellBasell refinery, located near the Houston Ship Channel, is seen in Houston, Texas, US, May 5, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The LyondellBasell refinery, located near the Houston Ship Channel, is seen in Houston, Texas, US, May 5, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

Oil prices were down on Monday after rising during the previous session as civil unrest in Iran subsided, lowering the chance of a US attack that could disrupt supply from the major Middle Eastern producer.

Brent crude was trading at $63.85 a barrel at 0734 GMT, down 28 cents or 0.44%.

US West Texas Intermediate for February fell 36 cents, or 0.61%, to $59.08 a barrel. That contract expires on Tuesday and the more active March contract was at $59.10, down 24 cents, or 0.40%.

Iran's violent crackdown on protests spurred by economic hardship, which officials say killed 5,000 people, quelled the unrest, reported Reuters.

US President Donald Trump ‌seemed to ‌step back from his earlier threats of intervention, ‌saying ⁠on social media ‌Iran had called off mass hangings of protesters, although the country had not announced any such plans.

That appeared to lower the odds of a US intervention that could have disrupted oil flows from the fourth-largest producer among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The downturn signaled a renewed retreat from multi-month highs reached last week, although prices still settled higher on Friday.

"The pullback followed a swift unwind of the 'Iran premium' that ‌had driven prices to 12-week highs, triggered ‍by signs of easing in Iran's crackdown ‍on protesters," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.

That was ‍accentuated by US inventory data showing a substantial crude build and reinforcing bearish supply pressures, he added.

US markets are closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Crude stocks were up by 3.4 million barrels in the week ended January 9, the EIA said last week, versus analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.7 million-barrel draw.

Markets are closely watching ⁠plans for Venezuela's oil fields, after Trump said the United States would run its oil industry after the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

The United States is moving as fast as possible to grant Chevron an expanded production license in the country, the US energy secretary told Reuters on Friday.

But markets were less confident about the prospects for scaled-up Venezuelan production.

"Venezuela and Ukraine remain on the back burner," said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

"Expect rangebound movement for the rest of the day, with US markets closed."

China's refinery throughput in 2025 rose 4.1% year on year, while crude oil output grew ‌1.5% from 2024, with both reaching all-time highs, government data showed on Monday.

Business

Gold, Silver Hit Records and Stocks Fall as Trump Fans Trade Fears

(FILES) A jeweler shows gold and silver bars at his shop in downtown Kuwait City on January 12, 2026. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)
(FILES) A jeweler shows gold and silver bars at his shop in downtown Kuwait City on January 12, 2026. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)
TT
TT

Gold, Silver Hit Records and Stocks Fall as Trump Fans Trade Fears

(FILES) A jeweler shows gold and silver bars at his shop in downtown Kuwait City on January 12, 2026. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)
(FILES) A jeweler shows gold and silver bars at his shop in downtown Kuwait City on January 12, 2026. (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)

Gold and silver prices climbed to fresh peaks on Monday, as investors poured into safe-haven assets after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose extra tariffs on European countries over the control of Greenland.

Spot gold jumped 1.6% to $4,666.11 as of 0551 GMT, after scaling an all-time high of $4,689.39.

US gold futures for February ‌delivery advanced 1.7% ‌to $4,671.90 per ounce.

On Saturday, Trump vowed ‌to ⁠implement a wave ‌of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, escalating a row over the future of Denmark's vast Arctic island.

European Union ambassadors are preparing retaliatory measures should the duties go ahead, EU diplomats said.

"Geopolitical tensions have given gold bulls yet another reason to push the yellow metal to new highs," StoneX ⁠senior analyst Matt Simpson said.

"With Trump throwing tariffs into the mix, it is clear ‌that his threat to Greenland is real, and ‍that we could be one ‍step closer to the end of NATO and political imbalances ‍within Europe."

US stock futures and dollar slid as Trump's latest tariff threats raised investors' appetite for safe-haven gold, yen and Swiss franc, in a broad risk-averse move across markets.

Spot silver climbed 3.6% to $93.15 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $94.08.

"On silver, the medium-term narrative remains constructive, supported by persistent physical deficits, resilient industrial demand and safe-haven ⁠demand," said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC.

"But the pace of the recent extension may warrant some near-term tactical caution," Wong said, noting that the gold-silver ratio declined sharply from highs near 105 in late 2025 to low-50s, signaling silver's outsized performance versus gold.

J.P. Morgan analysts said that they have a stronger preference for gold relative to silver as any disruptive correction in silver could have some near-term contagion into gold but still presents a buying opportunity in gold which continues to have a cleaner, bullish structural story.

In other precious metals, ‌spot platinum added 0.6% to $2,341.08 per ounce, while palladium rose 0.1% to $1,801.87.