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ICIEC Insured Member States’ Exports, Imports, Investments Top $99 Bn

The signing ceremony of the agreement between the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the Saudi Export-Import Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The signing ceremony of the agreement between the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the Saudi Export-Import Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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ICIEC Insured Member States’ Exports, Imports, Investments Top $99 Bn

The signing ceremony of the agreement between the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the Saudi Export-Import Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The signing ceremony of the agreement between the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the Saudi Export-Import Bank. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia topped the list of countries benefiting from the services of the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), a Shariah-compliant multilateral insurer and member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group.

Until the end of 2022, the volume of coverage of exporters, importers, investors, and banks amounted to about $11 billion.

CEO of the ICIEC Oussama al- Kaissi indicated that since its establishment in 1994, the Corporation has insured exports, imports, and investments exceeding $99 billion to benefit beneficiaries in the member states.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 11 percent of funding, of which $7 billion was provided to Saudi exporters and about $4 billion for Saudi importers, benefitting 2,650 companies.

The volume of coverage for Saudi investors outside the Kingdom amounted to about $240 million.

Kaissi detailed the operations covered by the ICIEC, including $5.7 billion in oil, gas, and petrochemical, $1.8 billion in mining, $1.2 billion in plastics, packaging, and paper, $1.2 billion in fertilizers, chemicals, and medicines, $422 million for the construction materials, and $142 million for the food industry.

Regarding the coverage of the Saudi imports, he said that the Corporation covered imports worth $4 billion in oil, gas, energy, and petrochemicals, including $1 billion in iron and $537 million in plastic, packaging, and paper.

He added that ICIEC provided reinsurance service for the Riyadh Metro project with a coverage of $306 million. It is the largest transport project in the world with a length of 170 km and a vital project that improves the quality of life as one of the Vision 2030 targets.

It helps the environment through clean energy in train stations and reducing carbon emissions by providing 400 thousand liters daily, improving traffic, and creating 300,000 jobs.

The ICIEC cooperates with public sector institutions in Saudi Arabia to provide the necessary solutions to Saudi exporters, investors, and foreign investments in the Kingdom.

It seeks to provide solutions and initiatives that will contribute to achieving the objectives of Vision 2030 by increasing Saudi exports, encouraging Saudi investment in member states, and attracting foreign investment to the Kingdom.

Kaisi highlighted the important outcomes of the Islamic Development Bank meeting in Jeddah, which stressed the need to establish a flexible infrastructure to form the required partnership between the private and public sectors to be adaptable to shocks.

He asserted the need for cooperation and synergy between institutions to promote common goals towards addressing climate change, food security, and the main challenges that hinder financing and development institutions.

The outcomes include innovation in providing financial solutions and increased support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow in the private sector while establishing a dialogue between the public and private sectors to ensure an effective and sustainable impact in creating job opportunities.

They also aim to achieve the goals of Vision 2030 by increasing the contribution of SMEs to the Saudi gross domestic product from 20 to 35 percent by 2030, with the need to promote cross-border investment and trade between the member states of the IsDB.

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Business

US Economy Grew at Solid 3% Rate Last Quarter, Government Says in Final Estimate

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange, at rear, is shown on Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange, at rear, is shown on Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
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US Economy Grew at Solid 3% Rate Last Quarter, Government Says in Final Estimate

FILE - The New York Stock Exchange, at rear, is shown on Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange, at rear, is shown on Sept. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

The American economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June, boosted by strong consumer spending and business investment, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.
The Commerce Department reported that the nation's gross domestic product — the nation's total output of goods and services — picked up sharply in the second quarter from the tepid 1.6% annual rate in the first three months of the year, The Associated Press reported.
Consumer spending, the primary driver of the economy, grew last quarter at a 2.8% pace, down slightly from the 2.9% rate the government had previously estimated. Business investment was also solid: It increased at a vigorous 8.3% annual pace last quarter, led by a 9.8% rise in investment in equipment.
The final GDP estimate for the April-June quarter included figures showing that inflation continues to ease, to just above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The central bank’s favored inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — rose at a 2.5% annual rate last quarter, down from 3% in the first quarter of the year. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation grew at a 2.8% pace, down from 3.7% from January through March.
The US economy, the world's biggest, displayed remarkable resilience in the face of the 11 interest rate hikes the Fed carried out in 2022 and 2023 to fight the worst bout of inflation in four decades. Since peaking at 9.1% in mid-2022, annual inflation as measured by the consumer price index has tumbled to 2.5%.
Despite the surge in borrowing rates, the economy kept growing and employers kept hiring. Still, the job market has shown signs of weakness in recent months. From June through August, America's employers added an average of just 116,000 jobs a month, the lowest three-month average since mid-2020, when the COVID pandemic had paralyzed the economy. The unemployment rate has ticked up from a half-century low 3.4% last year to 4.2%, still relatively low.
Last week, responding to the steady drop in inflation and growing evidence of a more sluggish job market, the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point. The rate cut, the Fed’s first in more than four years, reflected its new focus on shoring up the job market now that inflation has largely been tamed.
Some other barometers of the economy still look healthy. Americans last month increased their spending at retailers, for example, suggesting that consumers are still able and willing to spend more despite the cumulative impact of three years of excess inflation and high borrowing rates. The nation’s industrial production rebounded. The pace of single-family-home construction rose sharply from the pace a year earlier.
And this month, consumer sentiment rose for a third straight month, according to preliminary figures from the University of Michigan. The brighter outlook was driven by “more favorable prices as perceived by consumers” for cars, appliances, furniture and other long-lasting goods.
A category within GDP that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a healthy 2.7% annual rate, though that was down from 2.9% in the first quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.
Though the Fed now believes inflation is largely defeated, many Americans remain upset with still-high prices for groceries, gas, rent and other necessities. Former President Donald Trump blames the Biden-Harris administration for sparking an inflationary surge. Vice President Kamala Harris, in turn, has charged that Trump’s promise to slap tariffs on all imports would raise prices for consumers even further.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department also issued revisions to previous GDP estimates. From 2018 through 2023, growth was mostly higher — an average annual rate of 2.3%, up from a previously reported 2.1% — largely because of upward revisions to consumer spending. The revisions showed that GDP grew 2.9% last year, up from the 2.5% previously reported.
Thursday’s report was the government’s third and final estimate of GDP growth for the April-June quarter. It will release its initial estimate of July-September GDP growth on Oct. 30.