Author: admin

Amid rapid growth in Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector, fueled by the country’s economic diversification strategy, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has introduced a series of regulatory measures in Riyadh. These steps aim to balance the capital’s real estate market, demonstrating the leadership’s commitment to providing sustainable and effective solutions for challenges in this vital sector. Experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that rising property prices remain one of the biggest challenges in the real estate market. According to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the Real Estate Price Index increased by 3.6% in Q4 2024—the highest quarterly growth in six quarters—mainly…

Unsplash+/Getty Images AI can process millions of data points to rapidly generate oil price scenarios From the signing of the concession by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud to explore for oil in Saudi Arabia, it took 15 years until the first discovery of crude oil at the abundant Dammam Number 7 well in 1938. If the American and Saudi explorers who eventually made the strike had the benefit of modern artificial intelligence and digital survey techniques, that same process could have been completed in months – or even weeks. Such is the transformational potential of AI in global oil and gas.…

Pexels/AlphaTradeZone More international traders are taking an interest in the Saudi bourse, so trading drops off less during Ramadan Ramadan bourse activity remains strong Greater international interest Growth in asset management Trading on Saudi Arabia’s bourse has changed little this Ramadan as the growing influence of institutional and professional traders offsets the impact of a decline in retail investor activity. Historically, Gulf nationals have been the dominant force on the region’s stock markets. Individuals often meet at the bourses to trade and socialise. Such habits would usually fall off during the month of fasting, causing stock market volumes to tumble.…

Alamy via Reuters Connect A farmer harvesting his crops in Luxor, Egypt, where the median age of farmers is 52 Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest topics in global agriculture. Two concepts in particular – generative AI and analytical AI – have captured farmers’ attention. Generative AI helps process large and varied sets of unstructured data and can perform several tasks at once, while analytical AI uses this data to make meaningful predictions.  Think of the water shortage problem across the Middle East. Generative AI can help a farmer understand water patterns to improve irrigation based on large datasets,…

Amid rapid growth in Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector, fueled by the country’s economic diversification strategy, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has introduced a series of regulatory measures in Riyadh. These steps aim to balance the capital’s real estate market, demonstrating the leadership’s commitment to providing sustainable and effective solutions for challenges in this vital sector. Experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that rising property prices remain one of the biggest challenges in the real estate market. According to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the Real Estate Price Index increased by 3.6% in Q4 2024—the highest quarterly growth in six quarters—mainly…

Gold breached the $3,100 level on Monday to touch an all-time high as investors turned to the safe-haven asset amid concerns that US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans would widen the global trade war and trigger an economic fallout.Spot gold added 0.9% to $3,110.81 an ounce as of 0444 GMT after hitting a record high of $3,115.79 earlier. Bullion has gained more than 8% in March, Reuters reported.The dollar index eased 0.2%, making greenback-priced gold less expensive for buyers holding other currencies.”Markets’ anxiety levels have been ramping up ahead of the reciprocal US tariff announcements, which is keeping gold in…

The 11th Doha Islamic Finance Conference on April 8 is set to explore the development of decentralized financial platforms that align with Islamic economic principles. Held under the theme ‘Integration of Blockchain and AI: The Future of Islamic Finance,’ the event will bring together a distinguished lineup of government entities, global organizations, and leading financial and academic institutions specializing in finance, economics, and technology. Dr. Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Vice Chairman of Bait Al-Mashura Finance Consultations, said: “The world is witnessing the trajectory of a new revolution driven by the integration of blockchain…

Reuters/Brian Snyder Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at President Donald Trump’s speech to the US Congress in March Assets under management at Jared Kushner’s investment company Affinity Partners jumped 60 percent last year to $4.8 billion, according to a regulatory filing. The company received a cash injection from Middle East investors, including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, launched the investment firm in 2021 after leaving the White House at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term when he was a senior adviser on the Middle East. Affinity secured $1.5 billion of extra capital in 2024 from two of…

Wam Abu Dhabi’s real estate sector expanded by 4.2 percent, pointing to steady demand and investment in property development The non-oil sector has pushed Abu Dhabi’s economic growth to a new high. Real GDP in the the UAE’s largest and most wealthy emirate expanded by 4 percent year on year in 2024, reaching AED1.2 trillion ($327 billion), state-run Wam news agency reported. The growth was driven by an annualised 6 percent increase in the non-oil economy, Wam said, citing the preliminary estimates issued by the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi. The non-oil sector contributed 55 percent to total GDP, growing for…

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has discovered an oilfield in the South China Sea with proven reserves exceeding 100 million tons, state news agency, Xinhua, reported on Monday. The newly discovered oilfield in the eastern South China Sea – the Huizhou 19-6 oilfield – was about 170 kilometres from Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province, the news agency said. Daily production of 413 barrels of crude oil and 68,000 cubic meters of natural gas has been yielded after test drilling, it added. The oilfield marks a breakthrough in China’s offshore oil exploration, as it is the country’s first…