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Saudi Arabia Seeking to Localize New Medical Industries

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef and other officials at the signing ceremony for the localization of pharmaceutical industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef and other officials at the signing ceremony for the localization of pharmaceutical industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Seeking to Localize New Medical Industries

Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef and other officials at the signing ceremony for the localization of pharmaceutical industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef and other officials at the signing ceremony for the localization of pharmaceutical industries. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia is seeking to localize some pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies, and transfer knowledge to the local market.

To that end, the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority (LCGPA) concluded on Thursday seven agreements with national companies to reach these goals, while providing certain incentives upon localization, such as inclusion in the mandatory list of national products.

The LCGPA concluded four agreements with Tabuk Pharmaceuticals and three others with the Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO). They targeted a number of pharmaceutical products such as direct inhibitors of thrombin, antibiotics, treatment of muscle contraction, anticoagulants, and immune-suppressants, among others.

The agreements were signed in the presence of Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and LCGPA Chairman of the Board of Directors Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef.

LCGPA CEO Abdulrahman bin Abdullah Al-Samari noted that the new agreements highlighted the sustainable partnership between the public and private sectors to develop the local content.

He added that the localization of these products would contribute to around 500 million riyals cumulatively over the next 10 years, and with direct investments of up to 145 million riyals, aimed at covering 111 million riyals of government demand annually.

They will also boost local supply chains and respond to government demands, thus contributing to achieving the targets of Saudi Vision 2030.

Al-Samari stated that the authority worked continuously with the relevant authorities with the aim of identifying targeted products that contribute to boosting medicine and health security, improving the trade balance by reducing imports and developing Saudi exports, and transferring new technologies to the Kingdom.

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IMF Says US Needs to Tackle Debt despite Robust Growth

Police officers wearing face masks guard the US Capitol Building in Washington, US, May 14, 2020. (Reuters)
Police officers wearing face masks guard the US Capitol Building in Washington, US, May 14, 2020. (Reuters)
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IMF Says US Needs to Tackle Debt despite Robust Growth

Police officers wearing face masks guard the US Capitol Building in Washington, US, May 14, 2020. (Reuters)
Police officers wearing face masks guard the US Capitol Building in Washington, US, May 14, 2020. (Reuters)

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday called on the US to raise taxes to curb rising debt levels while applauding "robust, dynamic" growth in the world's largest economy and progress toward bringing inflation under control.
The IMF said in a closing statement for its "Article IV" review of US economic policies that high deficits and debt "create a growing risk to the US and global economy, potentially feeding into higher fiscal financing costs and a growing risk to the smooth rollover of maturing obligations."
The IMF's statement slightly revised down its 2024 US GDP growth forecast to 2.6% from the 2.7% forecast in the global lender's World Economic Outlook in April, reported Reuters.
The IMF forecasts US growth in 2025 to dip to 1.9% -- unchanged from the April outlook -- and remaining above 2% through the end of the decade.
"The US economy has proven itself to be robust, dynamic and adaptable to changing global conditions," the IMF said. "Activity and employment continue to expectations... and the disinflation process has been considerably less costly than many had feared."
The IMF said it expects US inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index to return to the Federal Reserve's 2% target by mid-2025, considerably sooner than the Fed's own forecast of returning to target in 2026.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters that the IMF's forecast is more optimistic because the current trajectory of inflation indicates a quicker return to target, partly because strong US consumer spending driven by wealth built up during the COVID-19 pandemic is subsiding and the labor market is cooling.
DEBT, TRADE PRESCRIPTIONS
But the IMF chided Washington for rising deficits that if continued would bring the US debt-to-GDP ratio to a concerning level of 140% by the end of the decade. The IMF measure includes Social Security pension and Medicare healthcare obligations.
"Such high deficits and debt create a growing risk to the US and global economy, potentially feeding into higher fiscal financing costs and a growing risk to the smooth rollover of maturing obligations," the Fund said.
For the second year in a row, the Fund prescribed that the US increase income tax rates progressively, not only on the wealthiest Americans but also for households earning less than $400,000 a year -- a threshold that US President Joe Biden has vowed not to cross in his re-election campaign pledges.
The Fund said the US also should reform entitlement programs -- cuts that Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump have both vowed not to pursue -- and raise the threshold for eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without children.
Georgieva said the Fund was trying to present a policy path for the US "that in our view would serve the economy and its people well" as it would for any IMF member country.
With the US economy strong, it was a "good time" for the US to consolidate its fiscal position, she said adding: "It is in good times where you can do more to prepare yourself for risks in the future."
The IMF also said that intensifying US tariffs and other trade barriers along with the increased use of industrial policy to favor domestic firms represented a downside risk for the US and global economies, with the potential to distort investment flows and undermine the global trading system.
Instead, the Fund called for Washington to work out differences with trading partners through negotiations and strengthen the World Trade Organization.
The US Treasury sidestepped the advice over deficits and trade in a statement issued after the IMF's assessment.
In her discussion with Georgieva, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated the importance of "frank and thorough assessments" of IMF member economies and discussed the "remarkable performance of the US economy over the past few years," the Treasury said.