Saudi National Renewable Energy Program targets $15.9 billion project pipeline
Half of families in the Kingdom wanted to use solar power
Renewables market growing rapidly in Saudi Arabia
Updated 06 April 2021
Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's National Renewable Energy Program is targeting SR60 billion ($15.9 billion) worth of project investments, according to a report issued by Riyadh Chamber, SPA reported.
The report said that at least half of families in the Kingdom wanted to use solar power in their homes.
The Kingdom wants to increase the generation capacity of renewable energy sources to about 58.7 gigawatts by 2030, of which 40 gigawatts (GW) would be from solar and 16GW from wind energy and the balance coming from other renewable energy sources, the report said.
The renewable energy market in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries has already reached 17 gigawatts and stands at 70 gigawatts in the wider MENA region, the newspaper reported.
Saudi Arabia ranks 6th globally in solar potential and 13th globally for wind power, Al Eqtisadiah said.
Emirates begins trials of IATA’s digital travel pass
Passengers from Dubai to Barcelona on flight EK 185 on Thursday trialed the travel pass
Updated 31 min ago
Arab News
DUBAI: Dubai carrier Emirates airline has started testing the COVID-19 digital travel pass, a mobile application that will help passengers manage their necessary travel requirements amid heightened security due to the pandemic.
Passengers from Dubai to Barcelona on flight EK 185 on Thursday trialed the travel pass, according to a company statement.
“The ability to process passengers’ COVID-19 relevant data for travel digitally will be the way forward,” Adel Al-Redha, chief operating officer of Emirates, said, as the global aviation industry slowly gets back up from the pandemic slump.
The airlines partnered with the maker of the travel pass, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), to integrate the standardized process of verifying documents such as COVID-19 rest results and vaccination certificates into the airline’s operations.
The trial is ongoing on selected Emirates flights from the Dubai to Barcelona and London Heathrow to Dubai, and will be expanded soon to include other routes, the company said.
Other airlines in the region have teamed up with IATA to conduct trial runs of the application, including Saudi Arabia’s Saudia and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways.
Moody’s warns on ESG risks for some structured finance assets
Sustainable investing has become a hot topic in Gulf markets over the last year with increased awareness in part springing from the coronavirus pandemic
Updated 15 April 2021
Arab News
DUBAI: Changing regulations and consumer demand driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues means that some structured finance asset classes are riskier than others, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
Aircraft and tobacco asset-backed securities (ABS) as well as project finance and infrastructure collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) have “moderate vulnerability” to environmental risk, while most other asset classes have “low” environmental risk, Moody’s wrote in a report.
Student loan asset-backed securities are the only structured finance sector with “high” social risk, it said.
“Environmental and social risks vary across structured finance asset classes, reflecting the sector’s diverse array of transaction types and assets,” according to Moody’s Vice President Inga Smolyar. “Governance considerations, in contrast, are generally issuer specific.”
Sustainable investing has become a hot topic in Gulf markets over the last year with increased awareness in part springing from the coronavirus pandemic. Demand for ethical and sustainable investments is now on the rise and increasingly being adopted by a wide range of investors from socially aware individuals to family offices and sovereign wealth funds.
The Future Investment Initiative Institute’s “The Neo-Renaissance: Mobilizing ESG for a Sustainable Future” conference takes place online today between 3.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. Riyadh time.
Several high profile regional business leaders are due to speak at the event including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan who also chairs the institute.
If you are looking to buy a new smartphone, TV or laptop, electronics items have some of the biggest discounts available this Ramdan. Here is a selection of some of the best deals available online and instore this week across the Kingdom, hand picked by Arab News editors.
Lenovo K12 Note
Lenovo K12 Note
NOW: SR569
WAS: SR899
SAVING: 36%
Available from Carrefour
Huawei Y8P
NOW: SR699
WAS: SR849
SAVING: 17%
Available from Carrefour
Samsung Galaxy A51
Samsung Galaxy A51
NOW: SR949
WAS: SR1199
SAVING: 21%
Available from Carrefour
iPhone 11 Pro 256GB
NOW: SR3999
WAS: SR4799
SAVING: 16%
Available from Carrefour
iPad 8th generation (2020)
iPad 8th generation (2020)
NOW: SR1499
WAS: SR1699
SAVING: 11%
Available from Carrefour
Ikon Tab-e learning tablet
NOW: SR399
WAS: SR549
SAVING: 27%
Available from Lulu
Ikon Portable bluetooth speaker
NOW: SR349
WAS: SR450
SAVING: 22%
Available from Lulu
Samsung 65-Inch Curved Smart QLED TV QA65Q8C Black
Samsung 65-Inch Curved Smart QLED TV QA65Q8C Black
NOW: SR6499
WAS: SR16999
SAVING: 61%
Available from noon.com
65 Inch UHD Smart Netflix Ready TV NETV65SM1 Black
NOW: SR2099
WAS: SR4669
SAVING: 55%
Available from noon.com
58 Inch UHD Smart Netflix Ready TV NETV58SM1 Black
NOW: SR1699
WAS: SR3779
SAVING: 55%
Available from noon.com
LG 65-Inch 4K UHD Smart AI ThinQ LED TV 65UN7340 Black
LG 65-Inch 4K UHD Smart AI ThinQ LED TV 65UN7340 Black
NOW: SR3199
WAS: SR5999
SAVING: 46%
Available from noon.com
Class pro 40-Inch Full HD LED TV BK40FHD Black
NOW: SR599
WAS: SR999
SAVING: 40%
Available from noon.com
Xiaomi Mi Wi-Fi IP Day/Night Vision Dome 2MP 1080P FHD Stand Alone Camera
Xiaomi Mi Wi-Fi IP Day/Night Vision Dome 2MP 1080P FHD Stand Alone Camera
NOW: SR134
WAS: SR199
SAVING: 32%
Available from noon.com
10000 mAh Boost+ Power Bank Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 Fast Charging & PD (Small Size For Mobiles, Laptop, Tablets, Nintendo) Black
NOW: SR 37
WAS: SR 99
SAVING: 62%
Available from noon.com
Goui 30000 mAh Econ.30 Power Bank 5x9.9x3cm Black/Green
Goui 30000 mAh Econ.30 Power Bank 5x9.9x3cm Black/Green
NOW: SR149
WAS: SR299
SAVING: 50%
Available from noon.com
Energizer 10000 mAh Fast Charge Power Bank Dual USB- Pack of 2 Titanium Grey
NOW: SR 89
WAS: SR 150
SAVING: 40%
Available from noon.com
MacBook Pro With Touch Bar And Touch ID, 13.3-Inch Display
MacBook Pro With Touch Bar And Touch ID, 13.3-Inch Display, Core i5, 8th Generation, 4 Ghz Quad Core Processor/8GB RAM/512GB SSD/Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645/Retina Display, English Keyboard-2020 Space Grey
NOW: SR6499
WAS: SR 10078.60
SAVING: 35%
Available from noon.com
Rockstar Games Red Dead Redemption 2 (English) - Intl Version - Adventure - PlayStation 4 (PS4)
NOW: SR109.55
WAS: SR247
SAVING: 55%
Available from noon.com
EA FIFA 20: Standard (SPL) Edition (KSA- English/Arabic) - PlayStation 4 (PS4)
NOW: SR66.6
WAS: SR101
SAVING: 34%
Available from noon.com
Sony DualShock 4 Wireless Controller For PlayStation 4
Sony DualShock 4 Wireless Controller For PlayStation 4
Qatar steps up help for businesses battling pandemic
Central bank liquidity support to local banks has been extended
Loan repayment holidays have been extended to 2 years
Updated 15 April 2021
Arab News
DUBAI: Qatar’s cabinet on Wednesday agreed to maintain central bank liquidity support for local banks as it stepped up its economic response to the coronavirus pandemic amid a second wave of infections.
Exemptions have been granted from electricity and water fees until the end of September for sectors closed due to the pandemic, Gulf Times reported.
The National Guarantees Programme at Qatar Development Bank has been extended until the end of September, while an exemption from interest under the National Guarantees Programme has been extended by one year to two years, followed by two years of interest at no more than the Qatar Central Bank rate plus 2 percent.
Qatar Central Bank first implemented a series of measures including a freeze on loan repayments and the National Guarantees Programme to provide financing to private-sector companies in March 2020.
A month of Iftars in Lebanon now more than double minimum wage
Cost of fattoush salad trebles
Collapse of pounds sends prices soaring
Updated 15 April 2021
Reuters
BEIRUT: After a year of economic meltdown in Lebanon, Hala Sheikh is sticking to a modest menu as she prepares the evening meal for her family to break their daily Ramadan fast.
Even the humble fattoush, a popular salad that she prepares for dinner, has tripled in cost since last year, leaving millions of Lebanese struggling to put food on the table in the Muslim holy month which is usually a time of celebration.
“We didn’t want to prepare unnecessary stuff,” Sheikh said as she got ready for the first Ramadan meal this week. “We prepared basic things like fattoush, soup and a main course — we will not prepare big meals like last year or the year before.”
A study by the American University of Beirut (AUB), dubbed the “Fattoush Index,” found that the cost of its ingredients — including lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, radish and bread — soared 210 percent in the last 12 months.
For Sheikh, a 50-year-old former nutritionist who moved from the US with her family, prices are a constant concern.
“During this bad economic situation you have to bear in mind the cost of making fattoush,” she said as she prepared the salad in her flat in Beirut’s Hamra district where she lives with her husband and four sons.
“This lettuce I’m cutting costs 3,000 pounds.” After the currency slumped 85 percent, that is worth barely 20 US cents. But in a country where the minimum wage has plunged to around $50 a month, costs quickly spiral.
AUB professor Nasser Yassine said that over the full month of Ramadan the cost of providing the fast-breaking Iftar meal for a family of five had risen to 1.5 million Lebanese pounds, more than double the monthly minimum wage.
It will be hard “for poor families who are below the poverty line and it will also be hard for them to secure and maintain their daily food,” he said.
Yassine’s Fattoush Index may even under-estimate the scale of the problem, with official consumer price data showing the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks jumped 417 percent in the year to February.
The runaway inflation is part of a broader economic collapse over the last two years which is fueling hunger and unrest, in the country’s gravest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.
After decades of mismanagement and corruption, Lebanon’s leaders have failed to break their political deadlock and form a new government to tackle the crisis, which has only worsened with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port in August.
“We witnessed many wars, civil war and the Israeli invasion,” Sheikh said. “But this is the worst Ramadan we have ever been through.”
