A young and growing population coupled with rising disposable income signals an optimistic future for the Saudi Arabian real estate sector and its developers. While the market, which has grown at a steady rate in recent years, seems poised for an uptick, a number of impediments related to land, financing and affordability remain, meaning that...
The building materials sector serves as both a barometer of the wider health of the construction industry and as a critical factor in the bottom line of local contractors. As with the industry in general, sub-sectors such as cement have entered a period of uncertainty. While the government’s extensive development programme has buoyed cement...
As the largest member of the GCC and blessed with considerable hydrocarbons reserves, it is not hard to see why Saudi Arabia is often touted as the next big construction market in the region. Despite operating challenges and associated risks, the government’s decision to push forward with an ambitious development agenda has alerted numerous...
While competitive bid prices are putting pressure on margins, contractors in Saudi Arabia are now feeling the effects of new labour regulations on operations and costs. Since the government concluded an amnesty for illegal expatriate workers and began clamping down on illegal labour in November 2013, contractors have been having a more...
A central pillar of Saudi Arabia’s drive to become a knowledge-based economy over the last 10 years has been the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP). In the budget for 2015, the Ministry of Finance announced that SR22.5bn ($6bn) had been allocated for the year to fund 207,000 Saudi citizens living abroad, including the scholars and...
Education accounted for the highest expenditure of any single sector in Saudi Arabia’s budget for 2015, equivalent to 25% of total anticipated spending. The annual statement does not include defence and security spending, but Jadwa Investment says that examination of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency figures for 2014 suggests that it accounts for...
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