Saudi and Chinese officials discuss consumer complaints in auto sector
RIYADH — The Ministry of Commerce held a joint meeting with representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia to discuss urgent consumer-related challenges in the Kingdom's fast-growing Chinese automotive sector.
The session, which also included participation from the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), focused on identifying solutions to enhance consumer protection and improve after-sales services provided by Chinese car dealers and manufacturers operating in the Saudi market.
Officials reviewed the current and projected growth of Chinese vehicle sales in the Kingdom, along with persistent consumer complaints related to after-sales performance and service quality.
The goal, according to the Ministry, is to elevate customer experience and ensure Chinese automotive brands meet local standards as demand continues to rise.
The meeting also explored avenues for cooperation between Saudi and Chinese entities to streamline regulatory processes and ensure a robust consumer rights framework in light of the increasing footprint of Chinese vehicles in Saudi Arabia.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
19 hours ago
- Arab News
Saudi Arabia's money supply hits $832bn as time deposits reach 16-year high
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's money supply rose to a record SR3.12 trillion ($832 billion) in June, marking a 7.63 percent annual increase, driven predominantly by a sharp rise in time and savings deposits. According to data from the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, these income-generating accounts, now totaling around SR1.1 trillion, represent the highest share of the money supply in 16 years. While demand deposits — non-interest-bearing checking accounts — remain the largest component at 47.93 percent, or SR1.49 trillion, their growth at 5.2 percent year on year has lagged that of savings accounts, which grew 21.71 percent over the same period. Other quasi-monetary instruments, including residents' foreign currency deposits, marginal deposits related to letters of credit, outstanding remittances, and repo placements, account for roughly 9 percent of the money supply. However, this category declined 18.54 percent, dropping to SR280.54 billion. Meanwhile, currency outside banks, although the smallest component at 7.83 percent, increased 6.6 percent to SR244.31 billion. Why are time deposits surging? Global monetary tightening and attractive yields are key factors. After previously peaking at 6 percent, SAMA reduced its repo rate in stages, mirroring that of the US Federal Reserve — first to 5.5 percent in September 2024, then further to 5 percent in December 2024. Despite these cuts, the current rate remains relatively elevated compared to the prolonged low-rate environment of previous years, making fixed-term, interest-bearing accounts more attractive than demand balances. Strong lending growth, particularly in sectors tied to Vision 2030, mortgage financing, and corporate borrowing, has outstripped deposit inflows. As a result, banks face increased funding needs and have ramped up offerings on time deposits to attract liquidity. The 2025 International Monetary Fund Article IV Mission noted that while banks maintain strong solvency at 19.6 percent and a healthy return on assets, liquidity pressures are building, and liquid assets relative to short-term liabilities have declined. In response, banks are expanding liabilities through bonds, syndicated loans, and certificates of deposit. Notably, net foreign assets turned negative in 2024 for the first time since 1993, highlighting rising external borrowing. To address risks, SAMA introduced a 100-basis-point countercyclical capital buffer in May 2025, and the IMF welcomed this step, along with tighter loan-to-value and debt burden measures, plus potential foreign-currency liquidity ratios to bolster financial stability. Market analysts foresee continued strength in time and savings deposits. Alvarez & Marsal's first quarter Banking Pulse reported that deposits rebounded 4 percent quarter on quarter, led by an 8.1 percent increase in time deposits, following a seasonal dip at the end of 2024. Likewise, Fitch Ratings, in its March 2025 forecast, projected lending growth of 12–14 percent, led by corporate demand, to continue outpacing deposit growth. Fitch expects Saudi banks to issue more than $20 billion in debt this year as they shift toward non-deposit funding. This, coupled with the continued dilution of CASA 'current and savings accounts' and competition for funding, may blunt the benefits of lower policy rates on banks' net interest margins.
Asharq Al-Awsat
21 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Arabia Rolls Out Measures to Spur Property Use
Saudi Arabia on Sunday began enforcing an updated version of its 'white land' tax, under directives from Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, aiming to push landowners to either develop or sell idle plots to developers, boosting supply and easing property prices. The amended rules broaden the levy to include vacant buildings, as well as undeveloped plots, and streamline its rollout by imposing an annual tax of up to 10% of a plot or group of plots' market value if their combined area within an urban zone is 5,000 square meters or more, according to regulations. Vacant properties will also face an annual tax based on comparable rental values, capped at 5% of their market value. This rate could be increased to 10% by cabinet decision on a ministerial committee's recommendation. State-owned properties are exempt. Hamed bin Hamri, a member of the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce's real estate committee and chief executive of Tamkean Investment, said the tax would pressure owners to utilize vacant assets or sell them to avoid annual charges, spurring market activity. 'Holding onto undeveloped land will now come with a cost linked to its market value,' he told Asharq Al-Awsat. 'This reduces the appeal of land hoarding.' He urged owners to seize the opportunity to build or partner with developers to revive unused plots, and called for incentive schemes, easier bank financing, and feasibility studies to help owners bring projects to life. Khalid Aljasir, head of Amaken International Group, warned that the changes could trigger a cautious slowdown in the real estate market. 'Supply will rise faster than demand, giving buyers with cash more bargaining power,' he told Asharq Al-Awsat, predicting that this caution could last for six months before the market regains balance. He described the move as 'bold' and said it could push land prices back to earlier levels. Financial and economic consultant Hussein Al-Attas told Asharq Al-Awsat that expanding the tax to cover vacant buildings was a key step towards tackling one of the main causes of market stagnation — idle, ready-to-use properties. Setting a 5,000 square meter threshold for taxable plots would reduce inefficient land fragmentation and make compliance easier to monitor, he said. Linking the tax rate to asset value, capped at 10%, would ensure fairness and reduce evasion while encouraging genuine development. By targeting vacant buildings, the system addresses shortages in ready-to-occupy or investable stock, Al-Attas said, adding that flexible executive regulations would allow the housing ministry to adapt to shifting market conditions. 'These changes could accelerate development, limit speculative holding of assets, and support price stability while improving economic efficiency in the property sector,' he stressed.
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
US and China extend trade truce another 90 days, easing tension between world's largest economies
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world's two biggest economies. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that 'all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.' Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the US could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30 percent, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on US exports to China. The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the US companies doing business with China. Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, said the extension is 'critical' to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that US businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans. 'Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in US tariffs and a rollback of China's retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart US agriculture and energy exports,' Stein said. China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension. Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth. The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably US high tariffs (15 percent on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse. Trump's trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average US tariff has gone from around 2.5 percent at the start of the year to 18.6 percent, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. But China tested the limits of a US trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnets – used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines. In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for US firms to get access to rare earths. 'The US has realized it does not have the upper hand,'' said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant US trade representative for China affairs. In May, the US and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they'd slapped on each other's products, which had reached as high as 145 percent against China and 125 percent against the US Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America's tariffs went back down to a still-high 30 percent and China's to 10 percent. Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they've been talking ever since. 'By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral US leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,' said Ali Wyne, a specialist in US-China relations at the International Crisis Group. 'The administration's desire for a trade détente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.' It's unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America's biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing's subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive US trade deficit with China of $262 billion last year. Reade doesn't expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets. But the tougher issues will likely linger, and 'the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,'' said Jeff Moon, a former US diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.
