Saudi Arabia will host a special edition of the Global Trade Review (GTR) on May 9 in Riyadh. Allianz Trade in Middle East is on board to credit the kingdom’s new role as a hub for global exchange of goods, logistics, trade, and start-ups.

GTR attracted 300 professionals from across the GCC at its last year event. With the Saudi Arabian economy climbing fast on the economic ladder, the timing couldn’t be better.

According to the IMF, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a total population of 36 million is currently “a bright spot during these hard times for the global economy”.

Figure 1. Real GDP growth across the region

Sources: IMF, Allianz Research

In fact, as per the IMF Managing Director “Kristalina Georgieva” “the Middle East and the world needs Saudi Arabia’s high growth rates.”

Below are facts and figures about Saudi Growth:

•  In 2022, the kingdom’s GDP increased at the fastest pace in a decade, recording an uptick of 7.6 percent over 3.2 percent in the year before.
•  Aside from the increase in the price of oil (U. S. crude hit a 14-year at 120 U. S. dollars per barrel (159 litres) in mid-2022), the biggest Gulf Arab economy managed to increase the size of trade, logistics, tourism, and the tech economy.
• Inflation remained low, just above two percent which was far beyond the price jumps over several periods in Europe, the U. S. as both developed regions suffered from a 40-year high in inflation.
• For 2023, the World Bank expects Saudi Arabia to continue to outperform, - 3.7 percent year-on-year - the global economy which is expected to grow by 1.7 percent this year.
• The Saudi Port Authority (Mawani) has kicked off construction at the South Container Terminal in Jeddah at the Red Sea coast to increase container-handling capacity from 2.4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalents) to 4 million TEUs by 2024.
• A new national airliner Riyadh Air was launched in March 2023. The carrier is poised to serve 100 destinations by 2030, upgrading not only Saudi passenger capacity but also to cargo capacity. Approximately 200,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created by the new airline.
• The rising Saudi scenario has triggered an unprecedented start-up culture across the gulf country on the digitalisation of work-flows and the entertainment industry. The combined value of 1,031 Saudi start-ups crossed 11 billion U. S. dollars last year for the first time.

GTR Saudi 2023 in Riyadh is coming at the right time and is here to stay.

Allianz trade in Middle East can be part of making the investment environment for future growth and a diversified economy in the kingdom, by protection usness against bad debts and support sales expansion locally, and internationally with trade credit insurance.

To learn about how Trade Credit insurance can help you to support your growth, check out our product guide.