King Abdullah Financial District inks 3 MoUs during PIF Private … – Arab News

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RIYADH: King Abdullah Financial District has signed Memorandums of Understanding with Saudi private enterprises in the fields of digital payments, telecommunications, and entertainment during the Public Investment Fund’s Private Sector Forum.
The first MoU was signed with Saudi fintech startup, FOODICS which aims to provide residents with digitally integrated electronic payment solutions to improve accessibility and operations.
KAFD also signed an agreement with Saudi Telecom Company allowing both parties to exchange relevant data, sponsor events, and promote initiatives with sustainability and smart city initiatives.
Speaking to Arab News, Gautam Sashittal, CEO of KAFD, said as partnerships are one of the pillars of the potential success of Vision 2030 iniative, they are very important to his organization as it develops.
Sashittal said: “Partnership is all about cooperation, cohesion, working together, and collaboration. And this is what KAFD is extremely good at.”
“Across the spectrum, from contracting to project management consulting to sustainability options to smart city options to technology options, there are lots of areas in which we are working with the private sector in partnership,” the CEO added,
A third MoU was signed with Altawahuj Entertainment to build an indoor and outdoor adventure park accessible to visitors and residents in KAFD under the attractions for families and children.
“We signed an MoU today with the Altawahuj Group for an Entertainment for an entertainment option, which is creating an indoor adventure park,” the KAFD CEO said.
These agreements aim to promote long-term ties between the public and private sectors in order to create new business opportunities.
“We’re constantly signing MoU’s these are all to develop partnerships with the private sector because the private sector has to be front and center of what we are doing in order to create local content, in order to create new jobs, in order to give the economy the fillip that it needs and to spread the growth of the economy, to spread the sort of create more jobs for example,” he said.
The KAFD CEO also highlighted that there will be 100,000 people living and working in the district by the end of next year, with more than 70 F&B outlets, three hotels, and entertainment options.  
“That’s only a part of the story, A new journey is just starting because we’ve built on only about 40% of our landbank. We’ve got 60% of the landbank. We’ve got a huge number of projects that we are working on already. So you’ll see that rapidly progressing in the next 2 to 3 years,” the CEO said.
These MoU signings come after the announcement of Kamco Invest, a regional non-banking financial powerhouse move its Saudi offices to KAFD on Monday.
“Global foreign investment increased by over 75 percent in 2021; in Saudi Arabia alone it more than tripled in the same year. Now is the right time for companies to invest, particularly in growing economies such as the Kingdom. We are glad that Kamco Invest shares this foresight and has joined a growing portfolio of international firms choosing KAFD as their Saudi headquarters,” Sashittal said.
King Abdullah Financial District to deliver 1,000 apartments this year
The MoUs come alongside a plan by KAFD build 1,000 apartments by the end of 2023 to transform the area into a perfect destination.
Sashittal said the development would create “the perfect destination to work, to live, and to play” while speaking at the Private Sector Forum.
“Are we done? No, this is just the beginning,” he said 
Located in the heart of Riyadh, KAFD has more than 94 buildings, and multiple towers, and combines residential solutions, work, and entertainment.  
“We’ve only developed around 40 percent of our land, which is about 1.6 sq. km, and we’re starting our really exciting projects over the next 3 to 5 years,” he told the forum.  
Shashittal highlighted the achievements of KAFD and its plans for the future, which included the development of 1 million sq. m of office real estate, 130,000 sq. m of retail, 984 apartments, and around 70 food and beverages outlets.  
The CEO added: “We will have a lot of branded residencies, hospitality keys, and more commercial space.” 
When asked about the district’s aspirations, the top official stated: “We will create the next benchmark of grade A+ office space.”  
Furthermore, “the public realm, what we call the Wadi, sees at least 5,000 visitors every evening, and on special days like Founding Day and National Day we have 15,000-20,000 people,” he said.  
The urban design of KACD helps to promote a healthier lifestyle with features such as the Al-Wadi area. “We’re creating multiple experiences for visitors from Riyadh to come into KAFD, as well as to create the retail experiences for the office tenants and the residents,” added the CEO.  
KAFD’s CEO also focused on the central role of the private sector, micro, small and medium enterprises in particular, in the district’s growth.  
“According to the World Bank, 50 percent of the jobs globally and 90 percent of the enterprises globally, are MSMEs.” 
The sector is very vibrant with regard to its process, technologies, and people, and that is why KAFD has already tapped into this resource.  
“What KAFD have been able to achieve would never have been possible without the support of our shareholder — the PIF — and of course the country’s leadership behind us, and that is what propels us forward,” added Shashittal.  
RIYADH: The UAE has raised 1.1 billion dirhams ($300 million) from the second auction of conventional dirham-denominated treasury bond issuance,
as the second-largest economy in the Middle East region continues to diversify its funding base.  
The auction was conducted by the UAE’s Ministry of Finance as the issuer, in association with the Central Bank of the UAE as the issuing and paying agent, Emirates news agency WAM reported.  
The Ministry of Finance, said on Tuesday, that the sale of the T-bonds was five times oversubscribed.  
Widely considered to be risk-free, T-bonds are fixed-rate government debt securities that pay interest payments twice a year until maturity, according to online financial encyclopedia Investopedia. 
According to the WAM report, this year’s dual-tranche deal received strong investor demand through six primary dealers.
The two and three-year tranches of 550 million dirhams each received bids worth 5.51 billion dirhams. 
“The success is reflected in the attractive market-driven price at the time of the auction; the T-bonds achieved a pricing of 5 to 20 basis points over the applicable US Treasury benchmark with similar maturity,” the Finance Ministry said. 
• The UAE’s Finance Ministry said the sale of the T-bonds was five times oversubscribed.  
• This year’s dual-tranche deal received strong investor demand through six primary dealers.
• The two and three-year tranches of 550 million dirhams each received bids worth 5.51 billion dirhams.  
It added: “This auction followed the practice of reopening the T-bonds, which helps in building up the size of individual bond issues over time and improves liquidity in the secondary market.”  
The report added that the T-Bonds program will
contribute to building the UAE dirham-denominated yield curve, which will ultimately strengthen the local debt capital market, develop the investment environment, provide safe investment alternatives for investors, along with supporting sustainable economic growth.  
For the year 2022, UAE’s Finance Ministry had issued T-bonds worth 9 billion dirhams in total, with two, three and five-year tenors.  
In 2021, the UAE raised $4 billion through the issuance of multi-tranche sovereign bonds, the first time it issued bonds at the
federal level.  
After the issue of bonds at the federal level, the ministry, at that time, told that the bond package, which was denominated in US dollars, included conventional 10-year and 20-year tranches, as well as 40-year dual-listed Formosa bonds.
SAO PAULO: Brazil, the world’s leading exporter of halal meat and poultry, is now seeking to expand the selection of food products it could potentially export to the world’s 57 Muslim-majority nations, as well as Islamic communities in other countries. 
The Halal Brazil project — launched by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, known as ApexBrasil — aims to incentivize food and beverage companies in the country to get halal certifications and export to the Muslim world. 
The project will reach at least 500 small and medium-sized enterprises, and inform them of the benefits of seeking a halal certification and entering Muslim markets worldwide. 
“Animal protein exports to the Muslim world constitute a success story in Brazil,” Silvana Scheffel Gomes, head of marketing at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News. 
“Although we aren’t a Muslim country and only have a small Islamic community, our businesspeople made an effort to qualify their companies to get into those markets. Inspired by that example, we now want to broaden our exports and take more Brazilian food products to Muslim nations.” 
Nuts, dairy products and fruit are among the items that could be exported by Brazilian companies, she said. 
Over a period of two and a half years, the project’s participants will learn about Muslim markets and halal certification. The companies that decide to seek a certification will be helped by the project organizers, with up to half the costs being paid by the program. 
“We’ll also help some companies take part in promotional activities, including international fairs and exhibitions,” Deborah Rossoni, a foreign trade analyst at ApexBrasil, told Arab News. 
“Small companies usually can’t attend events abroad, so it’s important for us to allow them to do so.” 
Ignorance about the potential of Muslim markets and the halal certification process still prevails among most SMEs in Brazil, said Rossoni. 
“Many people think it’s complicated to fulfill the requirements and obtain a halal certification. At times, a company will have to invest in new equipment in order to comply with halal demands, but it may be the case of only dividing production lines, for instance,” she added. 

Ahmad Saifi, director of Cdial Halal — a major certifier in Latin America — told Arab News: “More and more Brazilian fish-farming companies have been looking for a certification. The Muslim consumer certainly prefers certified products.” 
Saifi said fish producers have recently begun to attend international exhibits in the Muslim world, and felt that both tilapia and native species such as the freshwater tambaqui and pirarucu fish are drawing the attention of Muslim importers. 
“That segment is starting to look to international markets, and has a good opportunity to sell its premium products abroad,” he added. 
Caxias, a tilapia producer in the Brazilian state of Parana, is one of the companies that recently obtained a halal certification. 
According to Caxias owner Jean Carlo Kuligowski, one of the company’s providers visited Expo 2020 in Dubai and noticed the potential of Brazilian fish in the Muslim world. “We were advised by them to try and get a halal certification, and we decided to do it,” he told Arab News. 
It was not a complex process for Caxias. Production is concentrated at a farm with no other animal species — something that would have required more significant adaptation. 
“We already adopted several sanitary protocols and had our processes fully documented. No great changes were needed,” Kuligowski said, adding that Caxias obtained a halal certification last August. Now, the packing company that receives its fish is also working to get a certification. “We’re planning to export to Dubai at first, reaching other Muslim markets from there,” he said. 
Kuligowski already feels that the certification is paying off. “The certificate shows that we have a high-quality product, something that’s helping our business in the domestic market. I’d recommend it to everyone,” he said. 
Certifiers such as Cdial Halal are also taking part in Halal Brazil. Their role is to provide useful information to SMEs and help them navigate the decision-making process. 
“Brazil is a gigantic halal exporter, but large companies dominate most sales. We must not only improve our commercial presence in the Muslim world, but also introduce more sophisticated products,” Saifi said, adding that this has already begun. Acai berries, for instance, are now readily available in the Arab world. 
“In Dubai and elsewhere in the Middle East, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is widely taught in gyms and schools. In Brazil, the jiu-jitsu culture involves the consumption of acai due to its high energetic value. The same thing is happening there (in the Middle East),” Saifi said. 
Versions of processed acai are increasingly being exported to the region — not only the raw material, but items with added value, he said, adding: “That’s the kind of movement we must seek now.” 
Rossoni agrees, saying exports of commodities have been tremendously important for Brazil’s economy, but the country can now prioritize “products with added value, including processed meat items and beverages.” 
She added: “Offering the final products under our own brands can certainly generate great results.” 
Gomes said a new edition of Halal Brazil could focus on other segments such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products. 
“We’re already working with the participants, and later this year we’ll take some of them to fairs in the Middle East,” she added. 
Brazil’s exports to the Arab world reached $17.74 billion in 2022, according to recent reports released by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. 
Products such as cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form were the top products exported to the Arab world, totaling $3.4 billion in 2022. Meat and poultry, both fresh and frozen, followed closely behind, amounting to $3.164 billion. 
This was followed by iron ores and concentrates including roasted iron pyrites worth $2.9 billion, maize or corn worth $2 billion, soybeans worth $1.1 billion, and frozen meat of bovine animals worth $805.6 million. 
In June last year, the Council of Saudi Chambers announced the formation of the Kingdom’s side in the Saudi-Brazilian Business Council and the nomination of its executive committee members, headed by Mishaal bin Hathleen and his two deputies Waad Abu Nayan and Badr Al-Busais. 
Food security, air and sea logistics, energy, industry and defense are seen as particularly strong areas of future cooperation. 

 
HOUSTON: Oil prices plunged 5 percent to their lowest in more than a year as unease over Credit Suisse spooked world markets and offset hopes of a Chinese oil demand recovery.
Early signs of a return to calm and stability faded after Credit Suisse’s largest investor said it could not provide the Swiss bank with more financial assistance, sending its shares and other European equities sliding.
“We definitely have seen the oil market separate themselves from oil inventories and we’re more focused on a larger meltdown of the global economy,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
Brent crude fell $3.53, or 4.6 percent, to $73.92 a barrel by 10:53 a.m. ET (14:53 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude was down $3.46, or 4.9 percent, at $67.87. Both benchmarks hit their lowest since December 2021 and have fallen for three straight days.
Hedge funds were liquidating due to rising interest rates and economic uncertainty, said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial, adding that heavy pressure on US stocks this morning was adding to the fund liquidation in crude.
The US dollar also strengthened against a basket of currencies, making it more expensive for holders of those currencies to purchase crude.
Oil had rallied earlier on figures showing that China’s economic activity picked up in the first two months of 2023 after the end of strict COVID-19 containment measures.
US crude stockpiles
Meanwhile, US crude stockpiles rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week to March 10 to 480.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel rise.
Crude stocks rose by about 1.2 million barrels in the week according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
On Tuesday both benchmarks had shed more than 4 percent to three-month lows, pressured by fears that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week and other US bank failures could spark a financial crisis that would weigh on fuel demand.
Wednesday’s monthly report from the International Energy Agency provided support by flagging an expected boost to oil demand from China, a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries increased its Chinese demand forecast for 2023.
RIYADH: In a move to develop a lower-carbon hydrogen supply chain, Saudi Aramco has partnered with German gas processing firm Linde Engineering to jointly develop an advanced ammonia cracking technology. 
In this technological process, ammonia is decomposed toward hydrogen and nitrogen over a catalyst. The technology is typically used in applications where hydrogen is needed as either an energy source or to form downstream manufacturing processes. 
“This agreement is part of our ongoing technology and business development efforts to establish a commercially viable lower-carbon hydrogen supply chain. We believe the advanced ammonia cracking technology we are co-developing with Linde Engineering will play a key role in realizing our objectives,” said Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Aramco. 
The collaboration will see both companies combining their experience and capabilities in industrial research and development, lower-carbon hydrogen, and ammonia cracking technology to create new commercial opportunities amid a push to achieve decarbonization.  
Under the deal, Aramco and Linde Engineering will build a demonstration plant in Northern Germany to showcase this new cracking technology.  
Linde Engineering eyes offering this technology to its current and new customers as the world sails toward a sustainable future, according to a press release.  
John van der Velden, senior vice president of Global Sales and Technology at Linde Engineering said that “effective ammonia cracking technology could support the world’s need for urgent decarbonization.”  
By completing the missing link in the export chain, he said cleaner energy can be shipped from regions with high renewable and clean energy potential to those with more limited resources.  
“We look forward to working closely with Aramco to develop and commercialize this important technology, creating new business opportunities for Linde Engineering and Aramco,” added van der Velden.  
With 180 hydrogen fueling stations and 80 hydrogen electrolysis plants worldwide, Linde Engineering is one of the global leaders in gas processing, storage, and distribution.  
Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco earlier this month reported a net profit of SR604.01 billion ($161 billion) for 2022, registering a year-on-year growth of 46.46 percent, driven by higher oil prices, increased volumes sold and improved margins for refined products.  
The Riyadh-based firm also reported a total comprehensive income of SR622.63 billion in 2022, up 48.15 percent compared to 2021.
RIYADH: China, the world’s second-largest economy, is on track to report “far lower growth” over the next decade amid high interest rates, predicted Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University.
Speaking at a panel titled “Face-Off: Experts forecasting the economy” on the first day of the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh on Wednesday, Rogoff said the driving forces behind the Chinese economy were investments in infrastructure, commercial and residential real estate sectors but due to a significant surge in the interest rates the situation has changed and may lead to an economic slowdown.
Seth Carpenter, the global chief financial economist at Morgan Stanley, said several business models in the market function on the assumption that interest rates will remain at a reasonably low level, but that situation has changed.
“We are seeing a broader reassessment in the financial sector, in the banking sector for people just getting used to higher interest rates with money market interest rates at 5 percent that is just a far cry from the environment we’ve been in for the past 20 years and I think lots of business models have been set up on the presumption of low interest rates and we’re just not in that world anymore,” Carpenter said. 
Organized by Saudi Arabia’s Financial Sector Development Program partners, which are the Ministry of Finance, the Capital Market Authority, and the Saudi Central Bank, the conference is taking place at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh
It is set to build on the first edition in 2019, which sought integration between the financial sector ecosystem with its various means and tools, contributing to continuous growth within a framework of robust and solid fiscal stability, while employing innovative tools in the development and management of services.   
The conference also contributes to the Kingdom’s Financial Sector Development Program and is considered one of the most important events in the financial sector in the Middle East.

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