Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states flush with oil revenue are coming to the rescue of crisis-racked neighbors such as Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, doubling down on a diplomatic tool they long used to build influence throughout the region, the Wall Street Journal reported. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have pledged more than $22 billion this year to Egypt as the country seeks to stave off default.

Saudi Arabia raised oil prices for buyers in Asia to record levels, a sign the world’s largest exporter sees the region’s market remaining tight, Bloomberg News reported. Despite indications that slowing economies are starting to hit global demand for crude, state producer Saudi Aramco increased its Arab Light grade for next month’s shipments to Asian refineries to $9.80 a barrel above the Middle Eastern benchmark. That’s 50 cents more than in August. Still, traders and refiners had expected a bigger jump of $1.50, according to a Bloomberg survey in late July.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, raised July crude oil prices for Asian buyers to higher-than-expected levels amid concerns about tight supply and expectations of strong demand in summer, Reuters reported. The official selling price (OSP) for July-loading Arab Light to Asia was hiked by $2.1 a barrel from June to $6.5 a barrel over Oman/Dubai quotes, just off an all-time-high recorded in May. That was much higher than most market forecasts for an increase around $1.5. Only one respondent of six in a Reuters poll had predicted a jump of $2.

Saudi Arabia's economy grew by 9.6% in the first quarter of 2022, compared to a year earlier, according to flash government estimates on Sunday, as a recovery in the oil sector drove the strongest growth in more than a decade, Reuters reported. During the first quarter, oil activity in Saudi Arabia increased by 20.4% and non-oil activity by 3.7%, the estimates showed.

Saudi Arabia's consumer price index rose 2% in March from a year earlier on the back of rising transport and food costs, increasing for the seventh consecutive month, government data showed on Thursday, Reuters reported. Food and beverages rose 3% compared to a year earlier, driven by a 2.4% rise in meat prices and 9.4% in vegetable prices, the General Authority for Statistics said in a statement.

An exodus of foreign workers from Saudi Arabia started to reverse after a year and a half as the economy recovers from the pandemic and oil prices rally, Bloomberg News reported. The private sector added more than 250,000 jobs for non-Saudis, according to fourth-quarter data released on Wednesday by the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics. Citizens also benefited, with more than 83,000 jobs added for Saudis in the private sector and nearly 24,000 in government. Unemployment among nationals dropped to 11%, the lowest level since 2009.

Saudi Arabia boosted its revenue forecast for next year, with higher oil prices and production volumes poised to deliver the first budget surplus in eight years and the fastest economic growth since 2011, Bloomberg News reported. It’s a sharp turnaround after energy market turmoil and the pandemic combined to crater the kingdom’s nascent economic recovery from the last oil price rout.

Saudi Arabia banned imports from Lebanon and, along with three other Gulf states, expelled its ambassador following remarks by an official about the war in Yemen, as long-simmering tensions over Iran’s influence in Lebanon spill over and threaten to damage its already disastrous economy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Saudi Arabia reached an agreement with one of the world’s biggest bond clearing systems to settle transactions in its debt market, Bloomberg News reported. The deal between the kingdom’s Securities Depository Center Company, known as Edaa, and Brussels-based Euroclear Bank will give foreign investors access to the sukuk and bond market within the Saudi Exchange. Under the terms of an agreement signed at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, the link is expected to become operational in March 2022, according to a statement on Wednesday.