Saudi Arabia to Allocate $800 Million of Loans for Least Developed Countrieshttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4201621/saudi-arabia-allocate-800-million-loans-least-developed-countries
Saudi Arabia to Allocate $800 Million of Loans for Least Developed Countries
Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal bin Fadel Al-Ibrahim during the fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha - SPA
Saudi Arabia will allocate $800 million through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to finance development projects for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in regions including Africa and Asia, Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal bin Fadhil Al Ibrahim announced during the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha.
“Despite the developmental and social progress achieved over the past 50 years, fundamental challenges faced by Least Developed Countries remain and have become more complex and urgent — especially with the increased vulnerabilities faced by these countries,” Al Ibrahim said in his remarks.
“Through Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom has projects and initiatives that contribute to achieving economic prosperity, social well-being and environmental protection for all, in line with the Sustainable Development Agenda, he added.
"The Kingdom is also committed to supporting the least developed countries through helping them overcome challenges and working with the international community to push these countries towards progress and development.”
According to Al Ibrahim, Saudi Arabia had provided $96 billion in humanitarian and development aid to 167 countries in the last three decades.
Also, the SFD has provided 330 loans totaling $6.26 billion to LDCs from 1975 to 2022, financing 308 development projects and programs benefiting 35 countries.
Al Ibrahim noted that the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen (SPRDY), established by the Kingdom in 2018, has a strategy aimed at development plans in coordination with the Yemeni government and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
To date, the program has implemented 224 projects and initiatives worth $917 million, supporting the people of Yemen.
The Minister concluded by stating that the Kingdom will cooperate with international partners on initiatives to support the development and continue to play a leading role in all fields of development at regional and international levels to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Saudi Cement Companies Balance Investment Gains, Demand Prospects
Saudi Cement Company’s factory. (Saudi Cement Company)
Saudi Arabia’s listed cement companies maintained high profitability in the first half of 2026 despite wide disparities in performance and differing sources of growth. Combined net profit stood at about SAR 1.1 billion ($293.9 million), down a modest 2.4% from a year earlier, while the sector recorded profit growth in the second quarter.
The results show that cement and clinker sales were not the only drivers. Investment income, gains from the revaluation and disposal of some underused assets, and tighter control of expenses and financing costs supported several companies. Those farther from major demand centers faced greater pressure from transportation and logistics costs, financing burdens and excess production capacity.
While major producers, led by Yamama Cement Co., Saudi Cement Company and Eastern Province Cement, continued to lead sector profits, the results raise a more important question for the period ahead: To what extent do these profits reflect a sustainable improvement in operating activity, and how much have they benefited from investment and non-recurring items?
Thirteen companies posted first-half profits. Yamama Cement led with net profit of SAR 265.39 million, up 0.88% from SAR 263.08 million a year earlier. Saudi Cement followed with SAR 202.2 million, down 0.88% from SAR 204 million, while Eastern Province Cement ranked third, with profit rising 12.8% to SAR 141 million from SAR 125 million.
Second-quarter net profit for the sector reached SAR 508.7 million ($135.7 million), up 2.27% from SAR 497.4 million ($132.6 million) a year earlier. Nine companies reported profit growth, seven posted declines, while Al-Jouf Cement Company deepened its net losses.
Mohamed Hamdy Omar, CEO of G.WORLD, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the results presented a mixed picture: While the overall figures demonstrate the resilience of financial buffers and the ability of leading companies to adapt, they also reveal wide operational and structural disparities across the sector.
Omar identified four main factors supporting first-half profits, led by non-operating items. Cement and clinker sales were not the sole drivers of profitability, with gains from the fair-value revaluation of investments and capital gains from the disposal of some underused assets also supporting results.
Riyadh Cement Company plant. (Riyadh Cement Company)
He cited Yamama Cement as a prominent example, saying it benefited from the sale of equipment from the old plant’s production lines, as well as investment income.
Spending efficiency and financing-cost management also supported major companies. Saudi Cement and Eastern Province Cement reduced selling and distribution expenses and controlled financing costs, helping limit pressure on profit margins.
Companies based in Riyadh and the Eastern Region also benefited from proximity to major demand centers and projects, Omar said. The accelerated implementation of infrastructure projects and urban expansion provided operating volumes that helped them better absorb cost fluctuations.
Performance gap
Companies farther from major demand centers faced greater operational and logistical challenges. Omar pointed to an approximately 96.4% decline in Tabuk Cement Company’s profit and deeper losses at Al-Jouf Cement, attributing this to higher transportation and logistics costs and heavier financing and debt-servicing burdens among highly leveraged companies or those with lease-based financing structures.
Omar noted that the gap underscored the importance of geography and company size in determining competitiveness, particularly in a market characterized by excess production capacity and uneven regional demand.
He cautioned that relying on asset sales or investment portfolio revaluations to support profits was temporary and could not guarantee sustainable growth.
The real test would be a recovery in domestic demand and improvement in average selling prices per ton, he added.
Lower interest rates could ease debt-servicing burdens, potentially improving net margins and providing greater liquidity for rehabilitation and expansion.
Omar noted that mergers and acquisitions could become a more pressing strategic option as the performance gap between large and small producers widens, helping companies strengthen pricing power, reduce administrative and general expenses and address excess production capacity.
The ability to sell surplus production in neighboring regional markets will remain crucial in the second half, he stressed, alongside energy costs and feedstock-use efficiency.
Oil Slips on US Stock Build, Middle East Disruptions Limit Losseshttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5318867-oil-slips-us-stock-build-middle-east-disruptions-limit-losses
An oil tanker sails near the oil hub at the port of Fos-Lavera at sunset near Marseille, southern France, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Oil Slips on US Stock Build, Middle East Disruptions Limit Losses
An oil tanker sails near the oil hub at the port of Fos-Lavera at sunset near Marseille, southern France, September 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Oil prices fell on Wednesday, retreating after a two-day rally following an unexpectedly large build in US crude inventories, while supply disruptions in the Middle East lingered.
Brent crude futures fell 73 cents, or 0.67%, to $108.02 a barrel at 0450 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were down $1.1, or 1.04%, at $104.73 a barrel.
Both benchmarks settled more than $3 higher and at their highest levels since May 19 on Tuesday.
US crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories all rose last week, market sources said on Tuesday, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute.
Crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels in the week ended September 11, the sources said, citing API data. That compared with analysts' expectations for a draw of about 1.6 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll.
API's data showed unexpected builds in gasoline and diesel inventories have weighed on prices, but regional stock increases do not change the underlying tightness in the global crude market, Haitong Futures said in a note.
Despite the inventory pressure, prices remained resilient as traders focused on disruptions to physical supplies, said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market insights at Phillip Nova, in a report on Wednesday.
European diesel futures rose to a record high on Tuesday, further highlighting tightness in fuel markets as Middle East disruptions constrained crude and product flows.
Visible vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz remained in the single digits at four on Tuesday, down from seven a day earlier, preliminary shipping data showed on Wednesday, falling well short of the 10-day average of 18.
The drop in traffic through the waterway that handled a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply before the US-Israeli war on Iran started comes after attacks in the region intensified.
Hong Kong Unveils Plan to Align Economy with China’s Goalshttps://english.aawsat.com/business/5318864-hong-kong-unveils-plan-align-economy-china%E2%80%99s-goals
Shoppers admire the financial Central district skyline of Hong Kong, China July 9, 2015. (Reuters)
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Hong Kong Unveils Plan to Align Economy with China’s Goals
Shoppers admire the financial Central district skyline of Hong Kong, China July 9, 2015. (Reuters)
Hong Kong's government unveiled plans on Wednesday to significantly boost investment on innovation and technology as it aims to align the financial hub with mainland China's development goals.
City leader John Lee made the announcement as he unveiled Hong Kong's first Five-Year Plan, outlining its economic and social strategy to 2030.
The city will aim to make research and development account for three percent of gross domestic product after 2030, up from 1.63 percent in 2024, according to an official document.
China, the world's second-largest economy, has made scientific and technological self-reliance a priority, investing heavily in industries including semiconductors and artificial intelligence as a way to reduce dependence on the United States.
Its ruling Communist Party has used five-year plans modelled on those of the former Soviet Union to set its development targets and social priorities since the 1950s.
Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997 and is now a Chinese "special administrative region" with different economic and trade regulations to the mainland.
It has long benefitted financially from its semi-autonomous position as a free-market gateway for investment into and out of China, though Beijing has asserted greater control over the city's governance since quashing widespread protests in 2019.
Lee vowed that the inaugural plan would uphold Hong Kong's capitalist system.
"I want to make it very clear: the five-year plan is not a planned economy," he told reporters on Tuesday ahead of its publication.
Christine Loh, a former government official and lawmaker, told AFP that it will give Hong Kong a "useful governance tool" to implement longer-term, strategic planning.
The move was "primarily to synchronize" Hong Kong with China's national Five-Year Plan released in March, said Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
To Beijing, Hong Kong's plan signals "proactive loyalty and a commitment to integrating into national development goals", he added.
"What it does portend, to me, is that Hong Kong will accelerate its economic intertwining with Beijing."
- 'Dissolve the borders' -
Hong Kong's Five-Year Plan also aims to speed up development of the Northern Metropolis -- a development project to build a massive tech hub near the border with mainland China.
First proposed in 2021, the project will eventually cover a third of Hong Kong's total land area.
Critics and locals have raised concerns over its potential environmental impact as well as the strain it will put on the city's public finances.
Eilo Yu, a political scientist who specializes in Hong Kong and Macau development, said the program announced on Wednesday reflects "how the entire system (in Hong Kong) can be fully integrated with China's development".
The Northern Metropolis and Hengqin Island -- a landmass adjacent to Macau and three times its size -- are both part of China's vision, he said.
Yu added that Beijing hopes, through the "geographical integration" of the two cities, "to gradually dissolve the borders".
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