meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

GCC banks eye a brighter future

28 July 2023

 

Against a backdrop of booming profits, robust liquidity and healthy loan books, GCC banks remain in generally strong fettle in 2023.

Even if performance levels this year are unlikely to match the surging metrics witnessed last year, when the post-pandemic revival drove exceptional growth stats, most regional lenders have little to fear and much to gain from regional and global conditions.

The global interest rate climate remains a source of valuable support for Gulf banks. Even if this year does not see the fat net interest margins (NIMs) that led to much of the profit generated in 2022, the first-quarter 2023 results for listed Gulf banks still show healthy earnings.  

Banks in the largest markets, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, have been riding the yield curve and, while the cost of funds has increased, asset yields have widened further. Analysts say the growth in loan portfolios and asset volumes has continued this year. 

“We are seeing profitability metrics improving, and that’s due to the higher rates following the dollar,” says Redmond Ramsdale, head of Middle East Bank Ratings at Fitch Ratings.

“And we’ve seen loan impairment charges coming down as banks have been building up their provisions and dealing with the pandemic. Certainly on profitability, we’re back to pre-pandemic levels, if not slightly above them.”

Broad-based growth

Bank performances reflect a confluence of factors. In the UAE, according to analysis from CI Ratings, profit growth is largely due to higher margins and net interest income, but also because provisioning expenses have come down significantly as banks see lower levels of new non-performing loan (NPL) classification and good recoveries. This is also related to the improving real estate environment.    

Kamco Invest research shows net profit for listed banks in the GCC in the first quarter of this year benefitted from a steep quarterly increase in non-interest income that more than offset a sequential decline in interest income in Qatar and Kuwait.

In addition, lower provisions booked by banks in the region also supported bottom-line performance. As a result, aggregate net profits saw the biggest quarterly growth since the pandemic at 17 per cent to reach $13.4bn. The sequential increase in net profit was broad-based across the GCC.  

There are some causes for concern. For one thing, GCC banks now have to grapple with an increased cost of funds. According to the Kamco figures, these have gone from 1.9 per cent in the previous quarter to a multi-quarter high of 2.5 per cent during the first three months of 2023.

But overall, GCC banks have enjoyed success in containing costs, as reflected in total operating expenses registering a decline of 3.1 per cent to $11.2bn during the first quarter of 2023, after consistent growth during the three previous quarters, according to Kamco figures.

The downturn in loan loss provisions – which increased in the 2020-22 period, driven by the pandemic impact – has proved a boon. Figures show these provisions stood at $3.1bn in the first quarter of this year, down from $3.3bn in the previous quarter.

Macro conditions

Analysts see the macroeconomic environment as playing a decisive role in supporting GCC bank performances. 

“Reasonable oil prices are supporting liquidity in the system and the level of government and government-related deposits,” says Ramsdale.

“Government and government-related entity (GRE) deposits make up about 25 to 30 per cent of sector deposits, and with the increase in oil prices, we’ve seen a slight increase in these levels.”

According to CI Ratings, the largest banks in the region have distinct competitive advantages in terms of franchise, margins, cost efficiency, generally well-performing loan books and diversified earnings.  

GCC banks were well placed for rising interest rates because they have quite a high base of current account and savings accounts (CASA) and a high proportion of short-term loans, says Ramsdale.

“The asset side has been repricing quickly. We have seen some migration from these low-cost CASA to term, but there is still a big proportion that’s very low cost, and that supports profitability metrics,” he says.

There has been no sign of significant deterioration in asset quality. “The end of forbearance didn’t really impact ratios too much, but interest rates have gone up a lot, and we expect some pressure on affordability. We, therefore, do expect stage three loans to start ticking up,” says Ramsdale.

Loan outlook

Lending has risen overall, although not as strongly as customer deposits, which resulted in a loan-to-deposit ratio for the GCC banking sector of 78.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.

Saudi Arabia stands out here, with more sector liquidity tightening reflecting stronger loan growth. Last year it was 15 per cent, significantly outpacing deposit growth of 9 per cent, says Fitch.

“The Saudi loan-to-deposit ratio of around 100 per cent is the highest it’s been in about 15 years, and it’s the opposite of what we’ve seen in other GCC markets,” says Ramsdale. “The UAE loan-to-deposit ratio hasn’t been this low for 10 years, reflecting the ample liquidity going into the UAE.”

In the kingdom, the government has been supplying additional liquidity from oil revenues that has gone into government agencies, such as the Public Investment Fund. That represented a change from the past, when that liquidity was largely channelled through the banking system.

Fitch is expecting the kingdom’s explosive recent loan growth to come down to about 12 per cent this year with a tightening of state subsidies putting pressure on housing affordability.

External funding

In Qatar, the big story is the composition of the funding base. Although there has been an improving trend in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, CI Ratings notes that there is still a heavy dependence on wholesale funding, particularly offshore wholesale funding. 

Ratings agency S&P says Qatari banks have the highest recourse to external funding among the GCC, with the system’s loan-to-deposit ratio reaching 124 per cent at the end of March 2023.

This resulted in an overall funding gap (total domestic loans minus total resident deposits) of $112bn, equivalent to almost two times the public sector deposits.  

The high reliance on external funding is still a credit weakness for Qatari banks, says Amin Sakhr, director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings.

“There’s some positivity that’s been observed since last year on the back of higher hydrocarbon revenues, which means domestic liquidity is improving, so banks are becoming less and less reliant on external funding. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, this has traditionally been about 5-10 per cent of system deposits.”

The GCC will experience solid operating environment conditions, given that healthy oil prices will underwrite government spending

Performance prospects

In the UAE, credit demand will drive loan growth, but margins will moderate in line with interest rates. For some banks, their continuing strong NPL recovery will boost earnings performance. 

The UAE’s largest banks, such as Fab and Emirates NBD, also entertain growth ambitions beyond the country's borders that will help them grow their balance sheets. 

According to S&P, UAE banks are in a comfortable net external asset position and their loan-to-deposit ratios are among the strongest in the region. Banks have accumulated local deposits over the past 15 months amid muted lending growth. The ratings agency does not expect an acceleration of lending, so UAE banks’ funding profiles should continue to strengthen. 

In Oman, customer deposits grew to $67bn in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $63.4bn in the same quarter of 2022.

While Omani banks are benefitting from rising interest rates, higher competition for deposits could translate into a higher cost of funds, which could impact margins. Analysts say that the benefits to banks of a rise in interest rates may be lower in Oman than in the other markets.  

In Bahrain, banks will likely continue benefiting from the prevailing high-interest rate environment for the remainder of 2023.

The country’s retail banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios have been consistently below 80 per cent for the past five years, suggesting that local deposits and a significant portion of external liabilities are being recycled into government and local central bank exposures. 

In contrast, Kuwait has a funding profile dominated by customer deposits, which have proved stable. Only 20 per cent of Kuwait’s deposits are from the government or GREs. 

Like their Saudi counterparts, Kuwaiti banks have room to attract foreign funding. Moreover, notes S&P, the Saudi riyal’s peg to the dollar and the relative stability of the Kuwaiti dinar exchange rate – thanks to its peg to a basket of currencies – mean that even if this flow is recycled locally, foreign currency risks are likely to remain in check.

Looking ahead, the GCC will experience solid operating environment conditions, given that healthy oil prices will underwrite government spending. This should underpin lending growth and maintain the region’s top lenders’ buoyant state into 2024.

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/10988628/main.gif
James Gavin

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Regional IPO market dries up amid war

    22 April 2026

     

    > This package also includes: Damage avoidance frames debt issuance

    Both the number and value of initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) fell in 2025. Any hopes that the trend might be turned around this year have largely disappeared thanks to the Iran war.

    Stock markets tumbled in the opening days of the conflict and, unless they have a good reason not to, most companies thinking of launching onto the stock market are likely to put their plans on hold until there is greater certainty about the direction of political and economic events. 

    According to global advisory firm EY, there were 49 new listings across the Mena region last year, five fewer than the year before, when activity was at a near-record level. The value of the market debuts last year dropped by far more though, with total proceeds falling to $7.3bn, down by 42% compared to the $12.5bn seen in 2024 and the lowest annual total since 2020.

    One reason for this was the notable slowdown in the UAE, where confidence may have been dented by the poor performance of several new listings in recent years. In 2025, there were just three IPOs across the UAE’s markets, compared to seven the year before. 

    Last year’s listings included one on the Abu Dhabi Exchange (ADX) and two on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), between them raising $1.1bn. The largest was the Dubai Residential Reit, which secured proceeds of $584m on the DFM in May. Technology firm Alpha Data raised $163m on the ADX in March, while construction and engineering company Alec Holding’s IPO brought in $381m in October.

    Saudi surge

    Saudi Arabia was by far the most active market last year – maintaining its position as the dominant bourse in the region. It hosted 39 IPOs, including 15 on the Tadawul main market and 24 on the junior Nomu market. Between them, these raised $4.9bn, or two-thirds of the regional total, with the majority coming via the main market listings. 

    Across the other GCC states, there were just two listings: Asyad Shipping Company on the Muscat Stock Exchange, which netted proceeds of $333m in March 2025, and Action Energy Company on the Boursa Kuwait, which raised $180m in December. 

    Bahrain and Qatar saw no new listings and the total of 44 IPOs for the six-country Gulf bloc was the lowest since 2021. 

    Activity outside the Gulf was even more limited, although the five IPOs last year – three on Morocco’s Casablanca Stock Exchange and two on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) – was the most since 2018. 

    These listings raised a little more than $700m between them, with the largest being the $525m secured by construction company Societe Generale des Travaux du Maroc on the Casablanca bourse late in the year.

    The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market proved more robust in 2025, with 635 deals completed in the region last year. That marked a 33% year-on-year rise and saw the market return to its 2022 peak, according to global professional services company PwC.

    The total included 238 inbound M&A deals, up from 182 the year before – and was the first significant rise in foreign investment since 2023. From within the region, sovereign wealth funds played a central role, in line with their mandates to help diversify their home economies.

    The total of 44 IPOs for the six-country Gulf bloc [in 2025] was the lowest since 2021

    Optimism dampened

    At the turn of the year there had been some optimism about the potential for the IPO market to also start accelerating. In a report in January, Fitch Ratings said: “The initial public offering and debt capital market pipelines [in the GCC] remain robust into 2026.” 

    EY said 18 companies and funds had expressed an intention to list in the first quarter, including 16 in Saudi Arabia alone.

    The reality has been very different, with just a handful of listings across the Arab world in the first quarter of the year. 

    Among the few deals, high-end supermarket chain Gourmet Egypt listed on the EGX on 1 February, raising $28m and, in the process, becoming the first food and beverage retailer on the exchange.

    The market in the Gulf has almost dried up, although a couple of deals have gone ahead since the war began on 28 February. 

    There was just one new listing on the Saudi Tadawul in the first quarter, with construction firm Saleh Abdulaziz Al-Rashed & Sons raising $67m via its debut on 11 March.

    Retailer Trolley General Trading Company also listed on the Premier Market of Boursa Kuwait via a private placement in March. EFG Hermes, which acted as a global coordinator and bookrunner on the transaction, said the size of the offer had been increased from 30% of the company’s issued share capital to 35% due to strong investor demand, with total proceeds reaching $195m. 

    Co-head of investment banking at EFG Hermes, Karim Meleka, described it as “a successful transaction in an uncertain market”. It was also the largest IPO in the Middle East and Africa in Q1 2026, according to financial data provider Dealogic. 

    The prospects for the rest of the year have been badly dented by the war, in line with the dimmer economic outlook. In its latest forecast, issued in April, the World Bank said it expects GDP growth across the GCC to slow to 1.3% this year, compared to the prediction of 4.4% growth it made in January. 

    If a lasting peace deal can be agreed, then some sectors could see a quick rebound, but some key areas of economic activity, such as tourism, could take far longer to recover. And the pain will not be evenly spread. The World Bank expects Saudi Arabia will post 3.1% growth in GDP this year, but the economies of Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar will contract by 8.6%, 6.4% and 5.7%, respectively.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16521248/main.gif
    Dominic Dudley
  • Consultant appointed for Expo Valley Views project

    22 April 2026

    Expo City Dubai has appointed local firm SSH to provide lead design consultancy and construction supervision services for its Expo Valley Views residential project.

    In a statement, SSH said its scope includes lead design consultancy across architecture and interior design; structural, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering; roads and infrastructure; and public realm and landscape design, along with construction supervision services.

    Expo Valley Views is an upcoming multi-building complex featuring eight residential buildings offering 800 apartments.

    The appointment follows Expo City Dubai’s selection of Engineering Contracting Company as the main contractor for its Sidr Residences project in October last year.

    Sidr Residences comprises three residential towers connected by three common basements, ground floors and mezzanine floors. Two towers will be 15 storeys high and one will be 13 storeys high.

    The development will offer 455 one- to four-bedroom apartments, lofts and townhouses, and is slated for completion by 2027.

    Expo City Dubai has recently launched several real estate projects at the Expo 2020 Dubai site, including Expo Valley, Mangrove Residences, Sky Residences, Sidr Residences and Al-Waha Residences.

    The developments will be built close to the Dubai Exhibition Centre, for which Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum approved the masterplan last year. 

    Expo City will gradually expand to cover a total area of 3.5 square kilometres, with facilities for 35,000 residents and 40,000 professionals.

    Dubai real estate developments continue to dominate the UAE’s construction market, with schemes worth more than $323bn in execution or planning.

    This aligns with a GlobalData forecast projecting the UAE construction sector will grow by 3% in real terms in 2026, supported by infrastructure, energy and utilities, and residential construction projects.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16519707/main.jpg
    Yasir Iqbal
  • Damage avoidance frames debt issuance

    22 April 2026

     

    It is still early days, but Gulf fixed-income markets appear to have averted the worst of the conflict, with limited selloffs witnessed during the first six weeks of the Iran war.

    This reflects a strong tailwind for GCC debt capital markets (DCM) in 2026, for both conventional and sukuk (Islamic bonds) – even if geopolitical turmoil may upend issuers’ best-laid plans. 

    Issuers started this year on the front foot, with Fitch Ratings recording $1.2bn in outstanding issuance as of 9 March, an increase of 14% in year-on-year terms, almost two-thirds of which is denominated in US dollars. 

    Those issuers were taking a long-lens view of their funding priorities looking forward. Despite that, there is a strong sense that Gulf markets have been hit harder than other emerging markets by the Iran conflict. For example, in the first trading week after the US-Israel attacks on Iran on 28 February, Asian investors were reducing their exposure to Gulf sovereign and corporate paper.

    Pressure on sukuk

    The impact on the sukuk market has been particularly pronounced. According to Fitch Ratings, the global sukuk market experienced a notable slowdown in dollar issuance during March, following strong activity in the first two months of 2026.

    “If you look at the numbers for the first quarter of 2026 overall, the volume of sukuk issuance is slightly up, but the volume of issuance in FX [foreign exchange] is definitely down,” says Mohamed Damak, senior director, financial services at S&P Global Ratings.

    “And the volume of issuance in FX in March was supported by some transactions that were announced before the start of the war.”

    If there is a much more protracted conflict or with a much more severe implication on the economy, there could be a much more severe implication on the overall volume of issuance in the GCC. But the numbers as of the end-March indicate this is still not yet fully visible.

    “The drop in the volume of issuance in FX is just 12% compared with March 2025, and the overall volume of issuance in local currency and foreign currency is still up by 2.3% year-on-year,” says Damak.

    Strong foundations

    Last year proved an active one for Gulf DCM issuance. Overall, GCC countries accounted for 35% of all emerging market dollar debt issuance in 2025 (excluding China). According to Kuwait-based Markaz, primary debt issuances of bonds and sukuk in the GCC amounted to $189.47bn, through 515 issuances, up 28.13% on 2024.

    “Prior to the conflict, GCC DCMs were performing strongly and building clear momentum,” says Bashar Al-Natoor, global head of Islamic finance at Fitch Ratings. “Most GCC issuers maintained robust market access throughout 2025 and into early 2026.”

    Combined GCC issuance in January and February 2026 reached about $73bn, marking a 14.5% increase from the previous year, according to Fitch. “Sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuers remained foundational to the GCC DCM, but corporate and institutional participation was steadily rising, driven by favourable financing conditions,” says Al-Natoor.

    Kingdom equation

    Saudi Arabia made an auspicious start to 2026, raising $11.5bn on international markets in January, in a sale that was three times oversubscribed. 

    Saudi debt issuance forms part of the kingdom’s wider plans for increased borrowing, framed not just to plug a widening fiscal deficit, but also to take on a greater burden of debt repayment. The kingdom’s outstanding central government debt portfolio reached SR1.52tn ($405.15bn) by the end of 2025, about one-third of GDP. 

    The kingdom’s National Debt Management Centre’s long-term plan envisages 45%-60% of borrowing from domestic and international DCM, the latter comprising about $14bn-$20bn. 

    The Public Investment Fund sold $2bn of bonds on the London Stock Exchange in January, an issuance that was more than five times oversubscribed. In 2025, monthly Saudi debt issuance averaged $6.4bn a year, more than double the figure seen two years earlier. 

    Saudi banks’ interest in bonds is driven by a need to support loan activity, with credit outpacing deposits. Issuing bonds will help close a rise in the loan-deposit ratio, which is well above 100%. 

    “You would expect to see probably a lower level of issuance in Saudi Arabia, where the banks were contributing to a significant amount of issuance. They will probably see lower landing growth this year, which could result in lower overall refinancing needs,” says Damak. 

    The UAE is another prominent Gulf issuer that entered 2026 with a robust pipeline of DCM activity in the works. 

    Last year, issuance of $47.71bn absorbed a quarter of all GCC issuance, a 24% increase on 2024. That put it comfortably ahead of Kuwait on $23.7bn, and Qatar on $22.47bn, although one of the fastest increases in DCM issuance last year was from Bahrain, which raised $11.24bn, a 63% increase on the previous year.

    UAE DCM was expected to exceed $350bn this year, notes Fitch Ratings, supported by strong sukuk issuance and the need to diversify funding sources. Dollar sukuk issuance in the UAE last year grew on 21.4% in 2024.

    Ceasefire dependency

    Much will inevitably hinge on the evolution of the Iran conflict. Here, it may pay to take the long-lens view, say analysts. “The liquidity declines observed in the Middle East and North Africa and GCC sukuk are unlikely to be permanent,” says Fitch’s Al-Natoor. 

    “As stability returns and the ceasefire holds, liquidity is expected to gradually recover, although the pace of recovery will be heavily dependent on investor confidence and sentiment.”

    Al-Natoor emphasises that the market itself has not undergone a structural transformation. Instead, some investors have repriced risk and adjusted premiums to reflect heightened geopolitical uncertainty. 

    “This distinction matters, as the underlying fundamentals of GCC credit remain intact, with the majority of issuers holding stable outlooks. Notably, the number of GCC issuers placed on Rating Watch Negative increased during this period, reflecting elevated uncertainty.”

    Rating Watch Negative flags that the rating is under review and could be resolved either by affirmation or downgrade, depending on subsequent developments.

    “Perceptions and risk appetite may take time to recalibrate,” says Al-Natoor. 

    “Despite that, there has been some private placement activity during this period, which hints that investors may be selectively engaging with the market while monitoring developments. 

    “If current stability is sustained, a broader return to public markets could follow.”

    This reinforces the sense that it is the sustainability and longevity of the ceasefire that will be decisive in shaping both the pace and strength of market recovery. 

    Fitch Rating’s base case leans towards gradual recovery in GCC DCM markets, both sukuk and conventional, rather than sustained structural damage. 

    “The fundamentals remain solid, but longer-term effects will ultimately depend on post-war sentiment and market access,” says Al-Natoor. 

    “We continue to see subdued dollar-denominated issuance, although some local currency activity persists.” 

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16520577/main.gif
    James Gavin
  • Conflict tests UAE diversification

    22 April 2026

    Commentary
    John Bambridge
    Analysis editor

    The UAE entered 2026 as the region’s strongest economic performer, with GDP forecast at 5% and construction output at a record $59bn. The Iran conflict that began on 28 February did not simply damage assets; it stress-tested the structural assumptions underpinning that performance.

    This occurred across a clear fault line. Sectors with state depth behind them have largely held; sectors built on openness and connectivity have not.

    Banks entered the crisis in the best shape in a decade. Capital adequacy at 17.1% and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 77.7% as of Q4 2025 gave lenders genuine capacity to absorb the shock. Emirates NBD raised $2.25bn in syndicated financing in what it described as the tightest pricing in its history. This was a clear signal that international confidence in the UAE’s financial architecture, if not its near-term growth trajectory, remains intact.

    Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s capital programmes are also continuing. Gas processing expansion targeting 30% additional output capacity by 2030 is advancing through final investment decisions, even as Habshan – one of the programme’s key sites – sustained damage in the 3 April strikes. Infrastructure investment on a five-year horizon is not managed on six-week threat windows.

    Energy infrastructure took the most visible physical hit. Export routes through the Strait of Hormuz remain constrained, Emirates Global Aluminium’s Al-Taweelah smelter faces up to a year of restoration, and the full damage assessment across Abu Dhabi’s industrial corridor is not yet complete.

    Aviation, tourism and trade logistics absorbed a simultaneous shock. Airline operational capacity dropped dramatically and is still working to find a new equilibrium. Hotel occupancy fell from a reported monthly average of 86% to a weekly average below 23% within a fortnight. Prior to the conflict, Jebel Ali was the most connected container port in the Middle East, and carriers have concentrated transshipment traffic there to mitigate Red Sea disruptions. The closure of Hormuz severed the hub and unmade the logic of the recent traffic consolidation.

    The transit hub paradox is now observable rather than theoretical. Dubai’s competitive advantage rests on connectivity; that connectivity is also its vulnerability. When the Gulf becomes unsafe, Dubai’s own trade does not simply freeze; its hub function collapses.

    What the ceasefire opens is a recovery window, not an immediate reversal of impacts. Traveller confidence, insurer risk pricing and carrier route economics do not normalise with a political announcement. The summer travel season, which begins in May, will provide the first measurable answer to how much of the pre-conflict model is recoverable – and how quickly.

     

    MEED’s May 2026 report on the UAE includes:

    > GVT &: ECONOMY: UAE economy absorbs multi-sector shock
    > BANKING: UAE banks ready to weather the storm
    > ATTACKS: UAE counts energy infrastructure costs
    > UPSTREAM: Adnoc builds long-term oil and gas production potential
    > DOWNSTREAM: Adnoc Gas to rally UAE downstream project spending
    > POWER: Large-scale IPPs drive UAE power market
    > WATER: UAE water investment broadens beyond desalination
    > CONSTRUCTION: War casts shadow over UAE construction boom
    > TRANSPORT: UAE rail momentum grows as trade routes face strain

    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16477034/main.gif
    John Bambridge
  • Firms submit Qiddiya high-speed rail EPC prequalifications

    22 April 2026

     

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for Riyadh City, in collaboration with Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC) and the National Centre for Privatisation & PPP, received bids on 16 April from firms for the engineering, procurement, construction and financing (EPCF) package of the Qiddiya high-speed rail project in Riyadh.

    Firms interested in bidding for the project on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis have been given until 30 April to submit their prequalification statements, as MEED reported earlier this month.

    The prequalification notice was issued on 19 January, and a project briefing session was held on 23 February at Qiddiya Entertainment City.

    The Qiddiya high-speed rail project, also known as Q-Express, will connect King Salman International airport and the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) with Qiddiya City. The line will operate at speeds of up to 250 kilometres an hour, reaching Qiddiya in 30 minutes.

    The line is expected to be developed in two phases. The first phase will connect Qiddiya with KAFD and King Khalid International airport.

    The second phase will start from a development known as the North Pole and travel to the New Murabba development, King Salman Park, central Riyadh and Industrial City in the south of the city.

    In November last year, MEED reported that more than 145 local and international companies had expressed interest in developing the project, including 68 contracting companies, 23 design and project management consultants, 16 investment firms, 12 rail operators, 10 rolling stock providers and 16 other services firms.

    In November 2023, MEED reported that French consultant Egis had been appointed as the technical adviser for the project. UK-based consultancy Ernst & Young is acting as the transaction adviser, and Ashurst is the legal adviser.

    Qiddiya is one of Saudi Arabia’s five official gigaprojects and covers a total area of 376 square kilometres (sq km), with 223 sq km of developed land. 

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16514433/main.gif
    Yasir Iqbal