List of all articles filed under “saudi-arabia-interviews” category.
Saudi Arabia has one of the most advanced infrastructures in the Middle East. It is now time to utilise this infrastructure. The operators use up to 30% of networks capacity but the remaining 70% remains idle.
The real estate sector is regarded one of the dynamic sectors in development, it is a target sector for all community segments and a safe channel because it depends on a set of pillars that depend on the strength of KSA economy, and the urgent demand for housing units. Now we can see that the percentage of KSA youth under age of 30 is about 70% of population, accordingly all those youth need houses. According to the recent statistics, the demand for housing units in the KSA is more than 200,000 housing units per year.
Shaker is in the retail and project market. We supply durable goods, mainly air conditioning through our partnership with LG and also home appliances with Whirlpool Group & Midea Group. This has been the story of Shaker for the past 60 years. We hold a dominant position in that market, especially in AC.
According to the latest SAMA records the total mortgage size in Saudi Arabia is more than 100 billion riyals, coming mainly from the commercial banks. This represents only the official figures excluding Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) financing. If you compare this number to the consumer finance and other corporate finance products, it is very small. The reason is that the population of Saudi Arabia is viewed as a young population and mortgages are now something that is becoming a necessity for people in Saudi Arabia because of their gradual ageing.
Saudi Arabia is a growing nation. Statistics show that 70% of the population is under the age of 30. There is a huge demand for education. One need only look to the increasing number of universities and colleges opening up in the past 15 to 20 years to see that. Right now, the Kingdom has 28 public universities and 12 private ones, and nearly the same number of private colleges. We also have vocational training programs, and other options for military-specific training, or for medicine.
The government is keen to ease doing business in Saudi Arabia. With establishing SAGIA and allowing for 100% ownership, the government initiated steps towards this goal. There were obstacles before, but nowadays it is very easy to open a business. Recently, when King Salman visited the United States, he welcomed an open market for the retail sectors.
Public debt in Saudi Arabia is among the world’s lowest, with a gross Debt-to-GDP ratio of less than 2% in 2014 and is expected to be around 6% by the end of 2015. The transportation mega projects will lead to economic activity and growth, plus the hospitality projects around Mecca and Medina.
The GAAP is based on rules but the IFRS is based on principles. The two systems have major differences. Since the IFRS is now becoming accepted in more than 120 countries, Saudi Arabia has decided to move towards the International Financial Reporting Standards in order to be compatible with other countries worldwide.
The Saudi stock market today has been negatively affected by many factors particularly the geopolitical issues especially in Yemen and Syria and the sharp decline of the oil price from $120 to $40, which is a decline of some 60 or 70%.
Also if you look at some of the consumer trends that usually drive behaviours, there is a very young population with over 70% of the population under 25, and they are very tech savvy in IT usage from a consumer perspective. These factors are driving even more trends toward corporate services and government services.
