Saudi Arabia To Enforce January Deadline for Companies To Move Regional HQs to Riyadh
International firms that hope to secure government contracts in Saudi Arabia will have to have their regional headquarters located in Riyadh by this January, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan confirmed on Wednesday.
In February 2021, the kingdom announced that it would stop contracting with companies that did not have their regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia by Jan. 1, 2024.
Al-Jadaan this week confirmed that Saudi Arabia will enforce the deadline, telling reporters at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, “The deadline is not new and yes, it will be implemented.”
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
The move aims to create local jobs as well as put Saudi Arabia in the forefront for companies doing business in the region. In the past, foreign firms have often preferred to base themselves in the neighboring United Arab Emirates to conduct their regional operations.
Some companies have raised concerns over the regulatory framework, including taxation. Al-Jadaan said a tax framework had been agreed, but did not elaborate.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is expected to see a sharp slowing in its economy this year, with lower oil production and prices following last year’s bumper year, when the kingdom recorded its first fiscal surplus in almost a decade.
It now projects a deficit until at least 2026, according to a preliminary budget statement released in September.
The kingdom has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into Vision 2030, a vast strategy to wean its economy off hydrocarbons, spearheaded by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s $700 billion sovereign wealth fund.
