In Episode 84, The 966 speaks with Faisal Durrani, partner and head of Middle East research for the global real estate company Knight Frank. Mr. Durrani shares some of the highlights and key information from Knight Frank’s recently-released 2023 report on real estate in Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Report 2023, a publication which touches on many subjects beyond real estate, including hotels and tourism, travel preferences for Saudis domestically, and so much more. Before the conversation, the hosts discuss the situation in Sudan and Saudi Arabia's role in assisting other nations in getting its civilians out of harms way in the country, how a Saudi company became ensnared in the politics of the Western US water crisis, and much more.

4:01 - Richard's one big thing is Saudi Arabia's assistance in getting civilians out of harms way in the war-torn country. Sudan is just across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia, and both nations share a long border with that pivotal trade route, raising the stakes for the Kingdom as yet another nation in its neighborhood is threatened with instability. Sudan has a 530-mile (853 km) coastline bordering the Red Sea, and that waterway's maximum width is 190 miles. There are fears that the fighting could further fragment the country, worsen political turbulence and draw in neighboring states. Saudi Arabia received praise from U.S. President Joe Biden for its work and hospitality in rescuing civilians from harm's way. 

12:04 - Lucien's one big thing is the water crisis in the American west, and how it has ensnared a Saudi company, Fondomonte, a subsidiary of Almarai, the Kingdom's largest big agricultural company. Saudi Arabia's own water conservation has lead Saudi Arabia to explore farming and agriculture opportunities abroad, both in wheat and other imports from places like Ukraine and in Africa, and in agricultural enterprises abroad, including in the United States. Fondomonte in Arizona farms alfalfa to feed cows for dairy products in the Kingdom. Fondomonte had permitting applications into the state for drilling the wells but those were denied ceremoniously by the state’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, who used the opportunity to make an example of Saudi Arabia’s farms in Arizona and the need for water to be used by locals. The permits were denied after Hays raised objections in early April to state agencies about discrepancies in application paperwork, including listing different landowners and conflicting information about whether the wells were new or replacements,” azcentral.com reports. 
Valued at $14.3 billion, the Almarai Company – which owns about 10,000 acres of farmland in Arizona under its subsidiary, Fondomonte – is one of the biggest players in the Middle East’s dairy supply. The company also owns about 3,500 acres in agriculture-heavy Southern California, according to public land records, where they use Colorado River water to irrigate crops.

26:28 - The 966 speaks with Faisal Durrani, partner and head of Middle East research for the global real estate company Knight Frank. Mr. Durrani shares some of the highlights and key information from Knight Frank’s recently-released 2023 report on real estate in Saudi Arabia, The Saudi Report 2023, a publication which touches on many subjects beyond real estate, including hotels and tourism, travel preferences for Saudis domestically, and so much more.

1:12:07 - Yallah! 6 top storylines to get you up to speed on all things Saudi headed into the weekend.

World Military Spending Rises to Record as Insecurity Swells

Defense expenditure increased by 3.7% in real terms to reach a record high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, said on Monday. About half the annual increase was due to Ukraine’s ballooning military budget, according to data for the eastern European country that excludes foreign aid. Arms budgets are expanding across Europe in response to Russia’s aggression at the same time as tensions in East Asia are prompting larger outlays in that part of the world. In another sign of how the world is sliding back into a situation last seen during the Cold War, military expenditure in central and western European countries exceeded the 1989 level for the first time.

Saudi Arabia, which came in at 38, was ranked 55 in the 2018 report, and has seen its stock as a global logistics hub rise as it formulates plans for as many as 60 logistics hubs around the Kingdom, and contemplates wholesale upgrades of existing ports, as well as a number of greenfield facilities. Identical rankings to Saudi Arabia were achieved by India, Lithuania, Portugal and Turkey, also all ranked 38-equal, with identical overall LPI scores of 3.4. The rankings were topped by Singapore, with a score of 4.2, with Finland coming second, also on 4.2 and Denmark third, with 4.1

Reflecting the success of localization efforts, Saudis constituted 82.2 percent of the number of workers in the financial and insurance sectors in 2022.  Saudi citizens who are working in financial and insurance activities reached 75,001, while foreigners totaled only 16,290 or 17.8 percent, bringing the total number of workers to 91,291 last year.  Male workers made up 93 percent of the workforce in financial and insurance activities – reaching 71,648 workers in 2022, while the number of females working in these activities hit 19,643, according to Al-Eqtisadiyah. 

The ranking of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has improved from sixth to fifth place among the largest sovereign funds in the world for the first time, with assets valued at SR2.3 trillion ($620 billion). The fund’s share of the world’s sovereign wealth has increased to 6.2%, up from 5.9%, according to Arab News.

Unemployment in Saudi Arabia Reaches Record Low with Women Driving the Change — Jadwa Investment

The unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia dropped to 8 percent at the end of 2022, down from 11 percent in 2021, with women driving that positive change, according to a recently-released report from Jadwa Investment, citing the General Authority for Statistics’ (GaStat) latest labor market release.

Female unemployment was down to 15.4 percent in 2022 versus 22.5 percent in the previous year.

According to a report in Hotelier Middle East, the UAE is no longer the regional leader when it comes to building hotels. "According to STR, Saudi Arabia has almost double the number of hotel rooms being built than the UAE. Saudi sits behind only China and the US globally in terms of the number of hotel rooms currently being built."