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Banks in Saudi Arabia, like their counterparts elsewhere in the region, have benefitted from an increased appetite for loans from retail customers as the economy has shrugged off the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. Retail lending, according to Aljazira Capital, increased as a share of total loans from around 21% in 2008 to 29.3%...

During the Kingdom’s rapid process of urbanisation, the condition of Saudi Arabia’s natural waterways deteriorated. The wadis that first attracted settlers to Riyadh were neglected and their waters rendered undrinkable. These were replaced by desalinated water produced hundreds of kilometres away on the east coast. In Jeddah, flash floods...

The population expansion that has taken place in Saudi Arabia in the last 50 years has not been without consequences for the environment, particularly in urban areas, and the country is now rehabilitating its cities. Local and international teams of engineers, ecologists and architects are working with government agencies, which in turn are...

While economic and social development may be at the forefront of the agenda in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom has also committed itself to policies related to the responsible stewardship of the environment, including its marine and desert habitats and natural spaces in its cities. Although the extraction and sale of fossil fuels continues to fuel...

Since the global slowdown of 2008, the Saudi authorities have committed huge sums in infrastructure spending to spur demand in the economy. The government’s strategy has focused on improving transport infrastructure, with unprecedented levels of investment in rail, aviation and port facilities. With oil prices falling, the government is once...

Although Saudi Arabia’s policy shift on self-sufficiency and wheat production over the last five years has garnered the most attention, the government has instituted a number of other plans to mitigate the effects of agricultural production on the country’s water reserves. One of the most important moves in this respect has been the emphasis...