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Edmund Bower

Saudi Arabia editor

Edmund Bower has reported from the Middle East since 2014. He has dispatched from Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. Before joining AGBI he worked for The Times, The Economist, The Guardian and other outlets

Edmund Bower
Tourists in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Visitors to the country will soon be able to claim back VAT on purchases

Saudi Arabia to expand VAT base as oil prices fall

Saudi Arabia has introduced new regulations allowing visitors to the country to claim back value added tax (VAT) to facilitate the tourism industry, but it plans to widen the tax base to include online transactions.  The world’s second largest oil producer is facing a steep decline in international oil prices on which the government relies […]

People walk in front of the Pepsi Cola sign at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.

PepsiCo to open Saudi research centre for Arab tastes

PepsiCo has said it plans to open a research and development facility in Saudi Arabia focused on developing new products for Middle Eastern consumers. At a cost of SAR30 million ($8 million), the centre will be the largest of its kind in the Gulf region and located in Riyadh, the US company said as it […]

An Almarai processing plant. It reported increased revenue and profits for Q1

Almarai reports increased first-quarter profits

Saudi dairy congolmerate Almarai Company has reported higher profits for the first quarter compared with the same period of 2024, one year into a $5 billion, five-year expansion plan. The Riyadh-based dairy company reported a 6 percent increase in net profits to SAR731 million ($195 million) and a 6 percent increase in revenues to SAR5.8 […]

An attendee at the Education Global Exhibition in Riyadh, which highlights new technologies. More than 8 million young Saudis will enter the workforce by 2040

AI classes to prepare Saudi pupils for the new world

Saudi secondary school pupils will soon have classes on artificial intelligence (AI) added to their curriculum. More than 50,000 17 and 18-year-olds will be offered the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course, a joint initiative between the ministry of education and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority. It is part of an effort by the […]

MECCA, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA (KSA) - JUNE 5, 2023:Muslim hajj pilgrims exit Al Haram mosque after evening prayers with Abraj Al Bait Zamzam tower (L) and Hilton Hotel Makkah (R) in the background.

Affordability is the key for Saudi hotel expansion

Al Farhan Group, a family-owned company with 16 three- to four-star hotels across Saudi Arabia, plans to open at least one hotel every year for the next several years. Its ambitions reflect those of the Saudi government, which wants to encourage more domestic and inbound business and leisure travel and almost double the number of […]

King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. The Saudi stock market is down almost 4 percent this year

Paper firm plans first Saudi IPO since global stock rout

Saudi Arabia’s United Carton Industries Company (UCIC), the largest paper packaging company in the Middle East by sales, plans to sell shares to the public to fund expansion. This is the first Saudi announcement of a planned IPO on the Saudi Exchange’s main market since a rout in global markets following Donald Trump’s near tripling […]

Women enjoy a meal in a restaurant in Riyadh. Full-service restaurants make up more than half the food service sector in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s expanding food sector faces high costs

As the population grows and the economy swells, the food and beverage service industry in Saudi Arabia is expanding. Half Million, a coffee shop chain that started in the capital Riyadh in 2018, now operates 59 stores across the kingdom. Its 60th recently opened on London’s Oxford Street. Barn’s, a Jeddah-based coffee chain that already […]

Saudi inflation women outside restaurant

Inflation in Saudi Arabia hits 20-month high

Headline inflation in Saudi Arabia hit a 20-month high in March, the General Authority for Statistics has revealed, although at 2.3 percent, up from 2 percent in February, it remains low by international standards. While housing remains the biggest single inflation driver, other factors included a weakened dollar, to which the riyal is pegged, while […]

Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, gives a media briefing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

US and Saudi Arabia agree ‘pathway’ to nuclear power deal

The US and Saudi Arabia – the world’s second-largest oil producer – are on a “pathway” towards co-developing a civilian nuclear programme for the kingdom, visiting US energy secretary Chris Wright has told reporters. This is the firmest US public statement yet of support for a Saudi nuclear power generating initiative, a topic of long-running […]

Visitors look at the Tesla Model Y during the opening of Tesla's first Saudi showroom, in Riyadh

Tesla trumpets Saudi launch but China is waiting

Tesla’s well-publicised launch event in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, last week attracted a large and boisterous crowd. But the competition is stiff, especially from the Chinese, now the world’s largest maker of EVs, and the charging infrastructure for electric-powered vehicles in the world’s second-largest oil producer is still lacking. Saudi Arabia wants 30 percent of […]

The CMA says Spacs would enable investments in unlisted companies that were previously difficult to access directly, but they provide less information to investors

Special purpose companies proposed to boost Saudi IPOs

Consultations on introducing special purpose acquisition companies to the Saudi stock exchange’s junior market in an effort to encourage initial public offerings and listings have been announced by Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority regulator. A special purpose acquisition company, or Spac, is formed to raise money through an IPO, with the funds then used to […]

A construction site in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, Expo 2030 and the 2034 World Cup

Oil price raises $1 trillion question for Saudi Arabia

Questions are being raised about the long-term future of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar infrastructure strategy as oil prices hit a four-year low and global stock markets tumble, according to economists. For the world’s second-largest oil producer, much depends on the trajectory of crude prices. The price of Brent crude has fallen by about 13 percent to […]

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Markets around the world have been rocked by Trump's tariffs

Aramco losses mirror wider Saudi stock plunge

The Saudi stock market opened at more than 2 percent lower on Monday to a 17-month low, following its biggest single one-day drop since the 2008 financial crisis. The Tadawul All Share Index (Tasi) tumbled by about 1,025 points or 8.6 percent following US President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of a minimum 10 percent […]

Medina, Saudi Arabia. The kingdom drew record tourism revenues in 2024

Saudi Arabia sets foreign tourism income record in 2024

Spending by people visiting Saudi Arabia last year hit a record high, bringing the kingdom closer to its Vision 2030 tourism targets. Inbound tourists spent SAR154 billion ($41 billion) last year, a 14 percent increase from 2023, which was also a record year. It also meant a record SAR50 billion ($13 billion) travel surplus, after […]

Sign of the times: The new Saudi riyal, left, and the Dirham

UAE and Saudi Arabia to introduce their own currency symbols

Within five weeks of each other, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have announced newly designed currency symbols for the riyal and the dirham, a decision that both countries says would strengthen their respective currencies’ place in the global economy. They join a small, but growing, list of states that use unique symbols to refer to […]

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People November 9, 2017 in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China

China’s investors seek shelter from Trump in Saudi Arabia

President Trump’s trade war is strengthening economic ties between Saudi Arabia and China and encouraging Chinese investors to increase their holdings in the kingdom, analysts say.  As China and its near neighbours face the imposition of economic tariffs – “the most beautiful word in the world”, according to the 47th president – Saudi Arabia has […]

Karim Souaid, a former investment banker and asset manager, is the sixth governor of the Banque du Liban

After 2 years without a central banker, Souaid divides Lebanon

Last Thursday the Lebanese cabinet approved Karim Souaid as the sixth governor of the country’s central bank, Banque du Liban.  Souaid, a former investment banker and asset manager, takes up the post after two years in which Lebanon had no formal banking chief and as the country enters a seventh year of economic and political […]

SMC intends to open three moree hospitals in Riyadh, which will become operational before 2029

Hospital operator SMC given approval for Saudi IPO

Specialized Medical Company (SMC), which operates two hospitals in Riyadh, has received approval from Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority to launch an initial public offering (IPO). The announcement allows SMC to issue 75,000 shares, representing 30 percent of its share capital. No further details about the listing were released. SMC’s CEO, Bassam Chahine, told AGBI […]

Nomu, which means 'growth' in Arabic, has become a platform for small and medium sized companies to scale up

Junior Saudi market considers easing investor requirements

Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority has proposed reforms to broaden the investor base of the kingdom’s junior stock market in an attempt to increase liquidity. The changes relax the requirements to register as a “qualified investor” on Nomu, the parallel alternative to the Tadawul, and extend this designation to board and committee members of listed […]

Saudi investment minister Khalid Al Falih. International ownership of stock in the Saudi Exchange is at 13%, compared to London's 65%

Riyadh’s financial ambitions bump up against hard reality

Saudi Arabia wants to emulate London or Hong Kong in the international money markets and become a global financial centre, Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih said at a capital markets conference in Riyadh in February. “We need to channel global capital,” he said. “We want to become a regional financial hub.” But judging by the […]

The Umm Al Qura IPO is the biggest this year in Saudi Arabia and one of three that has raised a combined $1bn

Umm Al Qura shares soar as more Saudi IPOs approved

Shares in Saudi Arabia’s Umm Al Qura for Development and Construction surged 30 percent on Monday, the maximum allowed on a first day of trading. The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) also approved another three companies for initial public offerings. Within minutes of the opening of the Saudi Exchange, after Umm Al Qura raised SAR1.96 billion […]

Umm Al Qura’s multi-billion Masar project in Mecca is one of the largest redevelopments in the region and is likely to attract a lot of investors when shares start trading

Mecca property developer shares could jump after IPO

Shares in Saudi Arabia’s Umm Al Qura, which will start trading on the main stock exchange on Monday following an initial public offering, should attract “a lot of interest” from investors looking to capitalise on the real estate market in one of Islam’s holiest cities, analysts have said. The company, which is overseeing a mixed-use […]