عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Real Estate Loans in Saudi Arabia Increase Despite COVID-19

People walk near a banner with instruction on personal hygiene, following the outbreak of coronavirus, at a street in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 16, 2020. (File photo: Reuters)
People walk near a banner with instruction on personal hygiene, following the outbreak of coronavirus, at a street in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 16, 2020. (File photo: Reuters)
TT
TT

Real Estate Loans in Saudi Arabia Increase Despite COVID-19

People walk near a banner with instruction on personal hygiene, following the outbreak of coronavirus, at a street in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 16, 2020. (File photo: Reuters)
People walk near a banner with instruction on personal hygiene, following the outbreak of coronavirus, at a street in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 16, 2020. (File photo: Reuters)

Despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, real estate loans in Saudi Arabia saw a rise by the second quarter, according to a report published by the Saudi Ministry of Housing.

The value of housing loans taken by individuals reached SAR13.8 billion (USD3.6 billion) with an increase of the real estate and construction sectors by 10.6 percent and 8.2 percent respectively compared to the first quarter.

Regardless of the economic damage caused by the COVID-19, real estate loans grew in June compared to the same month by 218 percent.

A total of 67,100 housing units were fully constructed during the second quarter and are ready to use. Riyadh ranked first in this aspect with around 14,400 housing units.

Quarterly data showed a drop in prices of apartments in Riyadh by 0.5 percent and in Eastern Province by 3.8 percent. As for Makkah and Medina, a slight increase of 0.7 percent, and 0.4 percent were recorded consecutively.

In a related context, the Saudi Contractors Authority (SCA) announced a new strategy for 2020-2024 during its fourth general assembly meeting.

The strategy aims to keep pace with the transformations taking place in the Kingdom's contracting sector and to fulfill its part in Saudi Vision 2030 and its various programs.

Through the strategy, the authority has built a vision for the contracting sector that prepares for the future and works to overcome the current challenges.

The strategy takes note of the entry of new official groups; changes in the tasks of some parties who have a direct or indirect influence on the sector; the aspirations of stakeholders and the challenges facing the contracting sector; international best practices and benchmarks; market trends; as well as the future aspirations of the authority.

The updated strategic plan comprises 22 initiatives, of which nine are organizational initiatives concerned with organizing the sector; eight are service-enabling initiatives to develop the contracting sector; four are internal initiatives to complete the internal capacity building and competencies of the authority and achieve financial sustainability; and one initiative is to provide specialized and high-impact services and solutions to the enterprises of the contracting sector, especially small and medium enterprises.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

China Condemns EU’s Inclusion of Chinese Entities in Sanctions Package Against Russia

People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

China Condemns EU’s Inclusion of Chinese Entities in Sanctions Package Against Russia

People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)

China's commerce ministry on Saturday expressed "firm opposition" to the European Union's inclusion of Chinese entities in its 20th round of sanctions against Russia, demanding their immediate removal from ‌the list.

The ‌EU sanctions ‌package ⁠targets third-country suppliers ⁠of critical high-tech items, including China-based entities accused of providing dual-use goods or weapons systems to Russia's military-industrial ⁠complex.

The move "runs counter ‌to ‌the spirit of the ‌consensus reached between Chinese ‌and EU leaders, and seriously undermines mutual trust and the overall stability of ‌bilateral relations", a spokesperson for China's commerce ⁠ministry ⁠said in a statement.

The ministry warned it would take "necessary measures" to protect Chinese companies and said "all consequences will be borne by the EU side," the statement added.

Business

US State Dept Orders Global Warning About Alleged AI Thefts by DeepSeek, Other Chinese Firms

The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

US State Dept Orders Global Warning About Alleged AI Thefts by DeepSeek, Other Chinese Firms

The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)

The US State Department has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it says are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including AI startup DeepSeek, to steal intellectual property from US artificial intelligence labs, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters.

The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about "concerns over adversaries' extraction and distillation of US A.I. models."

"A separate demarche request and message has been sent to Beijing for raising with China," the document states.

Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more ‌expensive ones as ‌part of an effort to lower the costs of training a ‌powerful ⁠new AI tool.

This ⁠week, the White House made similar accusations, but the cable has not been previously reported. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that DeepSeek was targeting the ChatGPT maker and the nation's leading AI companies to replicate models and use them for its own training, Reuters reported in February.

CHINA REJECTS ACCUSATIONS

The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday reiterated its stance that the accusations are baseless.

"The allegations that Chinese entities are stealing American AI intellectual property are ⁠groundless and are deliberate attacks on China's development and progress in the ‌AI industry," it said in a statement to Reuters.

DeepSeek, whose ‌low-cost AI model stunned the world last year, on Friday launched a preview of a highly anticipated ‌new model, called the V4, adapted for Huawei chip technology, underlining China's growing autonomy in the ‌sector.

DeepSeek also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, it has said that its V3 model used data naturally occurring and collected through web crawling and it had not intentionally used synthetic data generated by OpenAI.

Many Western and some Asian governments have banned their institutions and officials from using ‌DeepSeek, citing data privacy concerns. Nevertheless, DeepSeek's models have consistently been among the most used on international platforms that host open-source models.

The State Department ⁠cable said its purpose ⁠was to "warn of the risks of utilizing AI models distilled from US proprietary AI models, and lay the groundwork for potential follow-up and outreach by the US government."

It also mentioned Chinese AI firms Moonshot AI and MiniMax . Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.

The cable said that "AI models developed from surreptitious, unauthorized distillation campaigns enable foreign actors to release products that appear to perform comparably on select benchmarks at a fraction of the cost but do not replicate the full performance of the original system."

It added that the campaigns also "deliberately strip security protocols from the resulting models and undo mechanisms that ensure those AI models are ideologically neutral and truth-seeking."

The White House accusations and the cable come just weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. They could well raise tensions in a long-running tech war between the rival superpowers, which had been lowered by a detente brokered last October.

Business

Bessent Rules Out Renewal of Iranian and Russian Oil Waivers

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
TT
TT

Bessent Rules Out Renewal of Iranian and Russian Oil Waivers

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the US does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea.

He also said a renewal of a one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.

“Not the Iranians,” Bessent told The Associated Press. “We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”

In an AP interview about the impact of the war on the global energy market and other topics, Bessent also said he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief for Russia.

“I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension. I think the Russian oil on the water has been largely sucked up,” he said.