Will business conditions improve in Saudi?

October 11, 2016

Riyadh, Oct 11: In a recent poll, 50% of respondents in Saudi Arabia expect business conditions to improve in one year.

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A survey conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s number one job site, and YouGov, a leading market research agency, showed that 40% of the respondents expect the country’s economy to improve in the next six months.

“Despite the negative feelings that have characterized the past few months, there are sparks of optimism among respondents that economic conditions in their countries will improve in the future,” said Suhail Al-Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com.

Overall, only 20% of respondents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia believe that their country’s economy has improved compared to 6 months earlier, while 26% claim that it has remained the same. 42% of the respondents believe their country’s economy has receded. When asked about future expectations, 40% of respondents were optimistic about the economy improving, and a lower number believed the opposite to be true (25%). Nevertheless, 21% of the respondents don’t expect any change in the economy.

In terms of business conditions, almost one in four KSA respondents (27%) believe that business conditions are presently good. Conversely, 31% believe that conditions are average, while 40% believe that they are bad.
Regarding expectations for business conditions in a year’s time, 50% of KSA respondents are optimistic, 19% expect the situation to remain unaltered, while 20% are not confident at all, stating that the business conditions have the potential to get worse.

When it comes to job availability, 34% state that there are few jobs available across few industries, while 27% of respondents believe there are few jobs available across various industries. About 16% of KSA respondents claim that there are plenty of jobs available but across a few industries only, while a minor 12% state that there are plenty of jobs available across a wide variety of industries.

When it comes to future availability of jobs, a general negative outlook prevails amongst KSA consumers, where 33% of the respondents believe there will be a decrease of jobs available in their country over the next six months, and 25% state that the availability won’t change. However, 28% are still positive about this, stating that job availability will increase.

Less than 1 in 5 respondents (19%) believe that their current financial position is better now than it was six months ago, while 35% believe that it has remained the same. On a positive note, almost 43% KSA respondents expect their financial situation to improve in the next six months, while 26% say that it will remain the same.

Considering the opinions on the future cost of living, the majority of respondents (65%) expect the cost of living to increase in the next six months. On the other hand, only 6% of them expect it to decrease. When asked about the situation of their current savings compared to last year’s, 16% of KSA respondents claim that their savings have increased, while a quarter (25%) claim that savings have remained the same. 55%, however, believe that their savings have decreased in the same period.

The survey further revealed that 38% of KSA respondents are planning to buy a vehicle for personal use in the next 12 months. Conversely, 51% are not planning on buying a vehicle at all. Of those who are planning on purchasing a vehicle, 45% are planning to buy a new vehicle, while 34% claim to be looking for a used car.

When it comes to investing in property in the next 12 months, more than a quarter of KSA respondents say that they are planning to purchase property (29%). 54% of respondents, however, are not. Of those who are planning on making a property investment, 56% will be looking to buy new property, while 15% will invest in pre-owned estate. Almost half of Saudi Arabia respondents are looking to purchase an apartment (35%), while around a quarter will buy a villa/townhouse/bungalow (31%). 35% will invest in commercial property.

In KSA, 23% of employed respondents feel that the number of employees in their companies has increased over the past six months, while 50% believe the opposite to be true. Over the course of the next six months, 25% of employed KSA respondents expect the number of employees in their organization to increase, while 26% expect this number to remain the same. Conversely, 40% say that the number of employees in their company will decrease.

With regards to satisfaction levels, 42% of employed KSA respondents are satisfied with their career growth opportunities, while 38% are dissatisfied. When it comes to compensation, almost a third of KSA respondents (34%) are satisfied, while almost half of them (43%) are dissatisfied with their current compensation levels. The majority of respondents (53%) are satisfied with the non-monetary benefits they receive, and 40% are satisfied with the level of job security in their current organization.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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News Network
November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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