Leveraging the large number of pilgrims who visit the holy cities of Makkah and Medina to boost broader tourism activity is an important goal for the Kingdom, and one area that could benefit substantially from this push is health care. The Kingdom’s increasing population, alongside enhanced transportation links with Makkah, Jeddah and major...
The cities of Makkah and Medina, situated near the Red Sea in western Saudi Arabia, are the two holiest sites in Islam. The former is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, while the latter, some 500 km away, provided him sanctuary when he fled Makkah and is where he is buried. It was in Medina that Prophet Muhammad was instrumental in...
Saudi Arabia is home to the second-largest insurance market in the GCC, accounting for approximately 33.6% of the region’s gross written premium (GWP) in 2018. Much of the sector’s growth over recent years has been the result of government action: the Kingdom ranks joint-second in the GCC region in terms of the breadth of its mandatory...
The threat of cybercrime has risen dramatically in recent years, and emerging markets are no exception. While the shift towards online platforms – along with the development of the internet of things, smart cities and blockchain technology – is generating significant opportunities for wealth creation and helping to raise efficiency, it is also...
Investment in alternative assets is taking place across an increasingly diverse array of financial instruments in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is a regional leader in mutual fund activity, with the deepest and most varied investment pool in the GCC. A large number of highnet-worth individuals and family offices, meanwhile, makes private equity (...
Recent and ongoing reforms of Saudi Arabia’s capital markets have seen the Kingdom gradually liberalise its investment framework and overhaul the operations of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) – the largest exchange in the GCC by market capitalisation. These efforts were rewarded in 2017 when MSCI added Saudi Arabia to its Emerging Markets...
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