RIYADH: A natural gas project in east Morocco will soon be completed thanks to a new finance push from the largest bank in the North African country.
UK-based Sound Energy has received a conditional offer from Attijariwafa Bank to obtain funding amounting to 2.3 billion Moroccan dirhams ($237 million) for the Tendrara-based project’s second phase, according to a statement.
The funding will be allocated for completing drilling, operating wells, and building a pipeline to transport natural gas to the state’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water.
RIYADH: Italy’s energy transition plans received a further boost as Kuwait Petroleum International, also known as Q8, laid the foundation for Rome’s first circular hydrogen refueling station in collaboration with Maire Group.
PHILADELPHIA: James Harden might have side-eyed questions this week — much like he did in a playful reaction in his Houston days — about his future with the Philadelphia 76ers.
But the issue is real in Philly: Will Harden return to the 76ers for a third season?
All signs point to Harden declining his $35.6 million option on Thursday and entering this summer as an unrestricted free agent. That leaves the 2018 NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star free to sign with any team.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is getting closer to its Vision 2030 home ownership goal, with the Kingdom’s Real Estate Development Fund on Monday depositing SR916 million ($244.1 million) in the accounts of affordable housing beneficiaries.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Mansour bin Madi, CEO of the fund, said the total amount deposited from June 2017 to June 2023 has now surpassed SR49.3 billion.
RIYADH: Bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is set to receive a further boost after banks from both sides entered into an agreement to offer competitive financing to firms involved in the import and export of goods.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed between the National Bank of Bahrain and the Saudi Export-Import Bank, also known as Saudi EXIM Bank, NBB will offer competitive financing rates to Bahraini companies importing goods from Saudi Arabia.
CAIRO: Silicon Valley-based investor Plug and Play Tech Center, renowned for its early investments in successful firms such as Dropbox and PayPal, is seeking to raise $100 million to support Saudi startups, Bloomberg reported.
The venture capital firm is in discussions with Jada, a $1 billion fund of funds established by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund, to collaborate on this initiative, Saeed Amidi, Plug and Play’s founder and CEO, stated.
PARIS: The head of the World Bank said Thursday that the lender planned to introduce a “pause” mechanism for debtor countries in the event of them being hit by a crisis.
Ajay Banga told a summit on financing the fight against climate change that the multilateral lender would adopt a new approach that “significantly expands the World Bank’s toolkit.”
The most important measure would be offering “a pause on debt repayments so countries can focus on what matters when a crisis hits and stop worrying about the bill that is going come,” he added.
