Saudi Musaned program adds female drivers as part of over 10 new professions  

Saudi Musaned program adds female drivers as part of over 10 new professions  
Saudi Arabia has included private female drivers as part of its over 10 new professions under the Musaned recruitment program. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 07 March 2023

Saudi Musaned program adds female drivers as part of over 10 new professions  

Saudi Musaned program adds female drivers as part of over 10 new professions  

RIYADH: In a move to support the growing role of women in the national economy, Saudi Arabia has included private female drivers as part of its over 10 new professions under the Musaned recruitment program. 

This is being done as part of Vision 2030 which considers Saudi women an important part of the Kingdom’s strength. The national vision aims to develop their talents, utilize their energies, and provide them with the right opportunities to build their futures, contributing to the development of society.   

The share of women employed in Saudi Arabia jumped from 21 percent to 35 percent in five years on the back of the Kingdom’s efforts to boost participation in the labor market. The figures were revealed last month by Saudi Human Rights Commission President Hala Al-Tuwaijri at the 52nd session of the UN’s Human Rights Council.  

This comes as Saudi Arabia looks to broaden the scope of its domestic labor force by bringing various new professions including personal care workers, home guards, private teachers, home tailors, home managers, home farmers and home coffee makers under its recruitment platform. 

The addition made by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development is commensurate with the demand in the Kingdom’s job market, according to an official statement. 

Musaned is one of the most significant initiatives of the ministry, which seeks to achieve the objectives of the National Transformation Program based on Saudi Vision 2030. The integrated electronic system was initiated by the ministry to facilitate procedures for the recruitment of domestic workers and to increase the level of protection of the rights of all parties.  

Other jobs added to the platform include home attendants, home travelers, private speech and hearing specialists, as well as personal assistants and support workers. 

The move is part of the ministry’s efforts to continue with its work on developing the recruitment market in the Kingdom. This includes providing multiple services to improve and facilitate the quality of services provided to individuals, resolving complaints and disputes that may occur between the contracting parties, in addition to ensuring their rights.  

Last week, Saudi Arabia secured first place among the Group of 20 countries in the rate of worker productivity growth in 2022, according to a series of modeled readings issued by the International Labor Organization annually. 

This 4.9 percent increase represents the highest productivity growth rate achieved by the Kingdom, from 4.4 percent recorded in 2021. 

Much of this is mainly attributed to the efforts of the Kingdom’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development in collaboration with government agencies.  


Global renewables capacity grew by record 10% last year: IRENA

Global renewables capacity grew by record 10% last year: IRENA
Updated 17 sec ago

Global renewables capacity grew by record 10% last year: IRENA

Global renewables capacity grew by record 10% last year: IRENA

LONDON: Global renewable energy capacity grew by a record 9.6 percent last year but needs to grow by three times the current rate to limit global warming, the International Renewable Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

IRENA's annual report on renewable energy statistics said global renewable energy capacity amounted to 3,372 gigawatts at the end of last year, some 295 GW or 9.6 percent higher than the previous year.

Some 83 percent of all new power capacity last year was from renewables.

"This continued record growth shows the resilience of renewable energy amidst the lingering energy crisis," IRENA’s Director General Francesco La Camera said.

"But annual additions of renewable power capacity must grow three times the current level by 2030 if we want to stay on a pathway limiting global warming to 1.5C," he added.

Solar and wind energy dominated the renewable capacity expansion, jointly accounting for 90 percent of all net renewable additions in 2022, the report said.

Almost half of the new capacity was added in Asia. China was the largest contributor, adding 141 GW to Asia's new capacity.

Renewables in Europe and North America grew by 57.3 GW and 29.1 GW respectively, while the Middle East recorded its highest increase in renewables on record, with 3.2 GW of new capacity commissioned in 2022, an increase of 12.8 percent from the previous year.

On Monday, a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said emissions must be halved by the mid-2030s if the world is to have any chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a key target enshrined in the global climate pact the Paris Agreement.


Bank stocks steady after Swiss rescue as focus turns to Fed

Bank stocks steady after Swiss rescue as focus turns to Fed
Updated 32 min 7 sec ago

Bank stocks steady after Swiss rescue as focus turns to Fed

Bank stocks steady after Swiss rescue as focus turns to Fed

LONDON: Investors stepped cautiously into bank stocks on Tuesday, emboldened by the rescue of Credit Suisse, with share prices inching tentatively higher amid continuing concerns about smaller US lenders and further financial market ructions, according to Reuters

After a tumultuous 10 days which culminated in the 3 billion Swiss franc ($3.2 billion) Swiss-regulator-engineered takeover of Credit Suisse by its rival UBS, attention has now shifted to this week’s meeting of the US Federal Reserve.

As concern over the health of US mid-sized lenders lingers, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to tell bankers later on Tuesday that the country’s banking system is stabilizing after strong actions from regulators.

But she will also say further steps to protect bank depositors may be warranted if smaller institutions suffer deposit runs that threaten more contagion.

“The steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or classes of banks. Our intervention was necessary to protect the broader US banking system,” Yellen said in excerpts of prepared remarks to an American Bankers Association conference.

Yellen said she believed the actions by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the US Federal Reserve and the Treasury had reduced the risk of further bank failures.

The demise of 167-year-old Credit Suisse was triggered by the collapse of US lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and investors are concerned about potential bombs ticking elsewhere in the financial system.

The European Central Bank’s top banking supervisor said euro zone banks should watch their sources of funding or risk being “caught off guard” by rising interest rates.

“Increasing interest rates and quantitative tightening require banks to sharpen their focus on liquidity and funding risks,” said Andrea Enria, in remarks the ECB said were drafted in February, before recent global banking upheavals.

The effects of these were felt on German investor sentiment, which tumbled in March as concerns about a new financial crisis ended a five-month streak of consecutive increases, the ZEW economic research institute said on Tuesday.

“The international financial markets are under strong pressure,” and the high level of uncertainty is reflected in the economic expectations, said ZEW President Achim Wambach.

In Switzerland, the Bankers Association said that credit supply would not be restricted by the demise of Credit Suisse, adding it was convinced the Swiss banking sector still had a “prosperous future.”

Credibility “is not destroyed, but it’s not good,” the association’s chairman Marcel Rohner told a news briefing.

As the rescue of Credit Suisse assuaged the worst fears of systemic contagion, European bank shares rose, while Asian stocks lifted off their lows.

And in a sign of business continuity, Credit Suisse kicked off its three-day annual Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong, which draws top executives at regional companies.

Shares of beaten-down regional lenders climbed in premarket trade, including First Republic Bank, while big US banks such as JPMorgan, Citigroup and Bank of America also rose before the bell.

’Near Death'
Another burning question among traders and investors is whether the Fed’s relentless rate hikes, which some have blamed for sparking the biggest meltdown in the banking sector since the global financial crisis, might be at an end.

Policymakers from Washington to Europe have repeatedly stressed that the current turmoil is different from the global financial crisis 15 years ago, pointing to banks being better capitalized and funds more easily available.

But the sudden shock means traders have now increased their bets the US central bank will pause its hiking cycle on Wednesday to try to ensure financial stability, although they remain split over whether the Fed will raise its benchmark policy rate.

“The banking sector’s near-death experience over the last two weeks is likely to make Fed officials more measured in their stance on the pace of hikes,” said Standard Chartered head of G10 FX research, Steve Englander.

Top central banks promised at the weekend to provide dollar liquidity to stabilize the financial system to prevent the banking jitters from snowballing into a bigger crisis.

In a global response not seen since the height of the pandemic, the Fed said it had joined central banks in Canada, Britain, Japan, the euro zone and Switzerland in a co-ordinated action to enhance market liquidity.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon is leading talks with other big banks on new efforts to stabilize First Republic Bank, which last week had a $30 billion capital infusion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
First Republic and JPMorgan declined to comment on the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

A spokesperson for First Republic pointed to an earlier statement where the bank said it was “well-positioned to manage short-term deposit activity.”

In Europe, the investor focus has shifted to the massive blow some Credit Suisse bondholders will take, prompting euro zone and UK banking supervisors to try to stop a rout in the market for convertible bank bonds.

The regulators said owners of this type of debt would only suffer losses after shareholders have been wiped out — unlike at Credit Suisse, whose main regulators are in Switzerland and whose AT1 prospectus made clear that hybrid (AT1) holders would not recover any value.

Nevertheless, lawyers are talking to a number of AT1 bond holders about possible legal action, law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said on Monday.

Danske Bank has advised its private clients not to invest in high yield bonds, citing the risk of substantial capital losses as credit conditions tighten.

The category of high yield bonds includes both corporate and bank bonds, including the AT1 bonds that Credit Suisse will have to write down to zero on the orders of the Swiss regulator as part of the bank’s rescue merger with UBS.
 


Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund approves $610m in investment loans

Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund approves $610m in investment loans
Updated 21 March 2023

Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund approves $610m in investment loans

Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund approves $610m in investment loans

RIYADH: Farmers in Saudi Arabia saw their funding from a dedicated investment organization rise by 167 percent year-on-year in the first three months of 2023, it has been revealed.

The Saudi Agricultural Development Fund signed off on development and investment loans worth more than SR2.3 billion ($610 million) from January to March of this year, compared to the SR861 million handed out in the same period of 2022. 

The sectors financed range from small farmer and breeders to poultry sector projects in Hail and Asir, as well as the governorates of Shaqra, Al Aflaj, Tathleeth, Nairiyah, Rabigh, Al Ghat, and Al Olaya village.  

There was also funding for greenhouse projects in the Makkah Al-Mukarramah region and Al-Muzahimiyah governorate, for breeding and producing fish in inland waters in the Al-Dawadmi governorate, and for marketing agricultural products in the Khamis Mushayt governorate.

The Saudi Agricultural Development Fund has already handed out half as much money as it did throughout 2022, where SR4.2 billion was awarded. 

The approval of these loans and funding requests by the fund's General Manager, Munir bin Fahd Al-Sahil, underlines the fund's objective to boost its developmental and financing role for agricultural activity by its strategic objectives. 

The approval is also in alignment with the policies of the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture and the food security strategy in supporting and developing the agricultural sector and related logistical services, assisting in the coverage of agricultural supply chains, and contributing to the enhancement of agricultural supply chains. 


Swiss gold exports to China, India rebounded in Feb as prices fell

Swiss gold exports to China, India rebounded in Feb as prices fell
Updated 21 March 2023

Swiss gold exports to China, India rebounded in Feb as prices fell

Swiss gold exports to China, India rebounded in Feb as prices fell

LONDON: Switzerland's exports of gold to China and India rebounded in February as bullion prices fell, Swiss customs data showed on Tuesday.

Switzerland is the world's biggest bullion refining and transit hub and its data provides insight into global market trends.

It exported 58 tons of gold worth 3.2 billion Swiss francs ($3.5 billion) to mainland China in February, up from 26.1 tons in January and the most since December.

It sent 25.6 tons of gold to India, up from 3.2 tons in January and the most since September.

China and India are the world's largest gold consumer markets and their demand often rises when gold prices are falling.

Gold prices rose by about 6 percent in January and hit a peak of $1,959.60 an ounce on Feb. 2 before slipping back through February.

In March, however, prices have surged, rising above $2,000 an ounce on Monday as investors responded to turmoil in the banking sector by buying gold, which is typically seen as a safe asset.

Swiss exports of gold to Turkey dipped in February, having risen to unprecedented levels in January amid rampant inflation in the country.

After a massive earthquake struck early in February, the Turkish government put curbs on gold imports.

Last year, Switzerland sent 524 tons of gold to mainland China and Hong Kong, the most since 2018, and 224 tons of gold to India and 188 tons to Turkey.


Saudi aviation sector set for efficiency boost with new company

Saudi aviation sector set for efficiency boost with new company
Updated 21 March 2023

Saudi aviation sector set for efficiency boost with new company

Saudi aviation sector set for efficiency boost with new company

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Air Navigation Services Co. has announced the launch of a new firm in a bid to drive up efficiency in the Kingdom’s aviation sector.

The company, called Nera, will implement and manage projects in the field of civil aviation and air navigation in Saudi Arabia. 

According to the new firm’s official Twitter account, Nera will be “an innovative and technological solutions company that will lead the future of aviation in the Middle East and around the world by providing technical and operational solutions to improve efficiency, while complying with international safety standards.”

“Nera will provide many services in acquiring, defining and outlining the technical specifications and requirements for the automation and CNS systems as well as monitoring the entire installation process,” it added. 

This comes as Saudi Arabia earlier this month announced a $37 billion deal with US firm Boeing which will see the company manufacture up to 121 aircraft to help get the Kingdom's new airline off the ground.

The deal will see Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes with General Electric engines delivered to Saudi Arabia, with 72 of them set for Riyadh Air – the carrier announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The aviation sector, rebounding now after the pandemic, will deliver SR280 billion ($75 billion) to Saudi Arabia’s national gross domestic product by 2030, said Faisal Al-Ibrahim, minister of economy in May of last year. 

While speaking at the Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh on May 10, the minister noted that the pandemic resulted in a loss of $52 billion to the aviation sector. 

The minister added that Saudi Arabia is aiming to host 330 million passengers by 2030. 

Al-Ibrahim also revealed that Jeddah to Cairo was the busiest route in terms of international flights, while Riyadh to Jeddah was the busiest domestic route. 

The Kingdom’s growth in the aviation sector is expected to be an essential catalyst for the growth of the entire Gulf Cooperation Council’s tourism market. 

That was the message of Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Dubai Airports, during an interview on the Arab News talk show Frankly Speaking.

Griffiths, who has been a key figure in the transformation of Dubai airport into the world’s busiest by international passenger numbers, said: “I think a lot of people will be expecting me to say, ‘Well, Saudi Arabia is going to be a competitor’. Actually, the Saudi market is incredibly important for Dubai.”

Similar sentiments were expressed at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos a week prior. 

Taking part in a panel discussion on “Saudi outlook,” Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi investment minister, said: “A rising tide lifts all boats. Regional integration is more important to the smaller but very important economies next to us than it is to Saudi Arabia." 

He added, “So, I believe the Kingdom’s rise in its economic and competitive performance actually helps their competitiveness. It allows companies and enterprises and the governments of those countries to integrate with the larger global economy in Saudi Arabia.”