RIYADH: Qatari citizens have demonstrated a preference for villas in their residential choices, as indicated by official building permit data for December 2023. Analyzing the data, Qatar’s Planning and Statistics Authority identified villas as the prevailing preference, constituting 79 percent of all new residential building permits, totaling 172. Subsequently, dwellings financed through housing loans … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index closed at 12,252.06 points on Monday, marking a decrease of 33.01 points, or 0.27 percent. Conversely, the parallel market Nomu concluded at 24,671.82, registering an uptick of 114.18 points, or 0.46 percent. The MSCI Index also descended by 9.46 points to settle at 1,589.80, a drop of 0.59 … Read more
RIYADH: Passenger numbers at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz International Airport hit a record high of 42.7 million in 2023, a 36 percent increase from the previous year. The total number of flights through the Jeddah-based facility reached 250,000, up 25 percent compared to 2022, which did not exceed 200,000. Terminal 1 topped the list with … Read more
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s economy is likely to grow by 4.4 percent in 2024, Aljazira Capital has predicted in its year-end report. The forecast is in line with the Kingdom’s Finance Ministry’s projection for the current year, whereas Moody’s predicted a 4.6 percent increase in 2024. In the report, the financial brokerage firm highlighted that Saudi Arabia’s economic … Read more
KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer price index for December rose 29.7 percent from a year before, data from the country’s Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, according to Reuters. The country of 241 million people experienced its highest ever inflation in 2023, with its currency dipping to historic lows until a $3 billion IMF bailout averted an imminent sovereign … Read more
In a troubled world, Christians strive to put aside earthly worries on Christmas Eve FRANKFURT: Christians around the world were striving on Christmas Eve to put aside the worries and fears of an unsettled, war-torn world as they prepared to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Believers in Syria gathered Sunday in a country … Read more
RIYADH: Over a third of medical consultations in Saudi Arabia are done via digital channels, said Ahmed Al-Suwaiyan, governor of Digital Government Authority. Speaking on the first day of the Digital Government Forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Al-Suwaiyan said it indicated the level of success with which the Kingdom is moving toward digital transformation in … Read more
DUBAI: Russia said on Sunday it would deepen oil export cuts in December by potentially 50,000 barrels per day or more, earlier than promised, as the world’s biggest exporters try to support the global oil price. Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two biggest oil exporters, called in December for all OPEC+ members to join … Read more