KSA This Week: Ceer targets 30,000 jobs, S&P holds Saudi Arabia at A+, SABIC AN awards $3.46bn
This week from the Kingdom: Ceer set 21 September for the reveal of Saudi Arabia's first home-built electric cars, S&P kept the sovereign rating at A+ with a stable outlook, the Cabinet approved a national war-risk insurance pool to keep cargo moving, SABIC Agri-Nutrients awarded a $3.46 billion contract for a new ammonia and urea complex, the Kingdom took its AI pitch to Silicon Valley, and the Cabinet approved a National SME and Entrepreneurship Strategy targeting 500,000 new jobs., trade with China topped $100 billion, construction activity grew for a fourth straight month, and Saudi and Russian bodies mapped a new franchise pathway. Here is what it means for employers and businesses in Saudi Arabia.
Jobs & Industry
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30,000 jobs Ceer expects to create, with Saudis at 80% of direct employment |
Ceer, Saudi Arabia's first automotive company, will unveil its first electric sedan and SUV on 21 September. The company was set up in 2022 as a joint venture between the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Foxconn, and it has grown from 20 employees to 2,300.
The numbers behind it are big. Ceer is expected to add about SR30 billion ($8 billion) to Saudi GDP, improve the trade balance by SR80 billion, and create roughly 30,000 jobs — with Saudis making up 80 percent of direct employment. It is targeting 45 percent local content by 2034 and production of 170,000 cars a year, working with BMW, Hyundai Transys, Rimac, Siemens and others.
Chief executive James DeLuca said the reveal follows "an incredible journey from initial design and intensive engineering." The project also supports the Saudi Green Initiative's net-zero-by-2060 target.
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The TASC Take A new automotive industry needs a workforce that does not exist yet — production operators, quality engineers, supply-chain and maintenance teams — and it needs most of them to be Saudi. That is a large-scale recruitment, training and Saudisation task, and it is exactly the kind of ramp-up TASC staffs and payrolls. |
Source: Arab News
Economy & Ratings
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A+ Saudi Arabia's sovereign rating, affirmed by S&P with a stable outlook |
S&P Global Ratings has affirmed Saudi Arabia's long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings at A+/A-1 with a stable outlook. The agency said the Kingdom's diversified energy infrastructure and fiscal buffers should help it absorb pressure from the regional conflict, noting its ability to redirect crude exports to the Red Sea through the East-West pipeline.
S&P expects real GDP to contract 0.9 percent in 2026 before rebounding 8.2 percent in 2027 on higher oil production, then averaging 3.3 percent in 2028 and 2029. It forecasts a fiscal deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP this year, narrowing to an average of 3.4 percent over 2027-29.
Crucially for employers, S&P said non-oil activity has stayed resilient, supported by consumer spending. The non-oil sector, including government activity, now accounts for around 70 percent of GDP, up from 65 percent in 2018. The affirmation follows Fitch keeping its own A+ rating in July.
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The TASC Take A stable rating keeps borrowing costs predictable, which keeps projects funded and hiring plans intact. For employers, the useful signal is that the non-oil economy — where most private-sector jobs sit — is holding up even while oil output is down. |
Source: Arab News
Trade & Logistics
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4 objectives set for the pool, from insurance capacity to logistics competitiveness |
The Saudi Cabinet has approved the creation of a "Saudi War Risks Insurance Pool for Cargo and Vessels." The aim is to build domestic insurance capacity so that goods keep moving when global insurers raise premiums or refuse to cover the region.
Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan described it as a national mechanism built on a public-private partnership, designed to support the continuity of trade and supply chains. The Insurance Authority has selected Saudi Re to lead and structure the pool, managing its technical operations and reinsurance arrangements, with other local insurers taking part.
Cover will extend to cargo moved by land, sea and air, marine hull insurance, charterers' liability and protection and indemnity cover. Eligible beneficiaries include importers and exporters, vessel owners and operators, shipping and freight companies, and logistics businesses. India set up a similar $1.5 billion pool this year and issued more than 1,600 policies within weeks.
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The TASC Take If insurance stays available and priced sensibly, ports, warehouses and distribution centres keep running — and so does hiring in logistics. Employers in freight and supply chain should plan for continuity rather than contraction, and staff accordingly. |
Source: Arab News
Projects & Industry
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$3.46bn EPC contract awarded to Samsung E&A for the new complex |
SABIC Agri-Nutrients Co. has awarded a $3.46 billion engineering, procurement and construction contract to South Korea's Samsung E&A for a new ammonia and urea industrial complex in Saudi Arabia.
The complex will house one ammonia plant with capacity of 1.2 million tonnes a year and two urea plants totalling 2.6 million tonnes a year. Commissioning is expected in the third quarter of 2030, with commercial production from the fourth quarter. Once running, SABIC AN's urea capacity rises from 4.8 million to 7.4 million tonnes a year — an increase of 54 percent. Technology partners include Kellogg Brown & Root for ammonia, Stamicarbon and thyssenkrupp Uhde for urea, and Shell Global Solutions for carbon capture.
Chief executive Fahad Al-Battar called the project a key pillar of the company's 2040 growth strategy, supporting Vision 2030 and global food security.
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The TASC Take A build of this size runs for years and pulls in construction, commissioning and then permanent operations teams. Contractors working these packages need mobilisation at pace, with visas, payroll and Saudisation handled properly from day one. |
Source: Arab News
Technology & AI
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1GW AI compute capacity Humain plans to reach by 2030 |
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah Al-Swaha, spent a second day in California on 9 September meeting technology and investment leaders about AI partnerships, computing infrastructure, robotics and investment.
The list included OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Dell Technologies chairman Michael Dell, Cognition AI's Scott Wu, Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital, Sequoia partner Alfred Lin and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz. The Kingdom arrives with real infrastructure behind it: internet penetration reached 99.6 percent in 2025, median mobile download speed is 216 Mbps — top five in the G20 — and national data-centre capacity stands at 290.5 megawatts.
PIF-backed Humain is already delivering production AI compute using AMD chips, and plans up to 250 MW of extra AI infrastructure from 2027 and up to 1 gigawatt by 2030.
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The TASC Take Data centres and AI platforms need people long before they need more chips — power and cooling engineers, network and security specialists, data and ML talent. This is the tightest talent market in the Kingdom right now, and the one where speed of hire decides who gets the person. |
Source: Arab News
Business & SMEs
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35% SME share of GDP the strategy targets by 2030 (plus 500,000+ new jobs) |
Saudi Arabia's Cabinet has approved a National Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises, aiming to raise the sector's contribution to GDP to 35 percent and create more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030.
Announced by Minister of Commerce and Monsha'at chairman Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, the strategy runs 13 initiatives to improve SMEs' access to financing and markets, strengthen their operational readiness, and make it easier to do business. It marks a shift in focus — from simply setting up companies to giving existing ones the tools to grow and compete at home and abroad.
The initiatives include reviewing minimum Saudization requirements by sector, cutting the cost of doing business, expanding SMEs' share of government and corporate procurement, supporting exports and international expansion, and attracting and localising global startups. The aim is to rank the Kingdom first on the Entrepreneurial Skills and Knowledge Index by 2030.
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The TASC Take A national push to grow SMEs means more employers hiring their first, tenth and hundredth staff — with a sector-by-sector Saudization review on top. Small and mid-size firms rarely have in-house HR to handle compliant hiring, payroll and EOR at speed, which is exactly the gap TASC fills. |
Source: Arab News
Economy & Consumer
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$4.2bn weekly consumer spending in the week to 5 September (+0.2%) |
Saudi consumer spending held steady at SR15.8 billion ($4.2 billion) in the week ending 5 September, up 0.2 percent on the week before, according to Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) point-of-sale data. The number of transactions rose 4.8 percent to 267.75 million — people are spending slightly more often, in smaller amounts.
The mix shifted as the back-to-school rush passed. Education spending fell 31 percent to SR755.97 million after topping SR1 billion the week before, and clothing dropped 9.6 percent to SR1.28 billion. Food and beverages rose 3.9 percent to SR2.69 billion, restaurants and cafes 1.9 percent to SR1.81 billion, and healthcare 7.9 percent to SR964.71 million. Jewellery was the biggest gainer, up 25.4 percent.
Riyadh led with SR5.53 billion, followed by Jeddah at SR2.14 billion. Economist Talat Hafiz said demand looks "broader, more normalized, and more resilient."
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The TASC Take Steady spending with more transactions means retail, F&B and healthcare keep their shifts full. Those are the sectors that live or die on getting the right headcount in place quickly, and on payroll that handles variable hours without errors. |
Source: Arab News
Real Estate
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296 homes to be built in Madinah under the SR185m ($49.3m) agreement |
Tadawul-listed Dar Al Majed Real Estate Co. has signed a SR185 million ($49.3 million) development agreement with the Jadwa Al Maqar Real Estate Fund to build 296 residential units in Madinah.
The deal covers the first area and central public realm of the Mashraf Al Majdiah project in Madinah's Al-Hadra district, according to a Saudi Exchange filing. The mix is 66 villas and 230 apartments, and Al Majdiah acts as developer — handling design, planning, supervision, contractor coordination, approvals and sales. Construction is expected to take 24 months from the 10 September signing.
It follows a SR395.8 million August deal for two residential towers in Makkah's Masar development. As of 30 June the company had 41 projects in its portfolio and 31 in an active pipeline across Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah and Al Khobar. The new non-Saudi property ownership regime, in force since 22 January, covers designated zones that include Mashraf.
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The TASC Take Residential pipelines this deep keep demand steady for site engineers, QS and project managers, and for the trades beneath them. Developers running dozens of projects at once rarely want all of that headcount on their own books — which is where contract staffing does the work. |
Source: Arab News
Economy & Trade
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$100bn Saudi–China bilateral trade in 2025; China is the Kingdom's top trading partner |
Saudi Arabia and China's bilateral trade surpassed $100 billion in 2025, with roughly $50 billion recorded in the first half of this year, China's Consul General in Jeddah, Yang Yi, told Al-Eqtisadiah. China is Saudi Arabia's largest trading partner, while the Kingdom is China's largest in the Middle East, and Yang described trade between the two as “very balanced.”
In the first half, China's imports from Saudi Arabia exceeded $26 billion while the Kingdom's imports from China were about $24 billion. Chinese investment in Saudi Arabia has passed $4.26 billion, with China leading contributions to infrastructure and new-energy projects, while Saudi investment in China is growing in new energy, advanced technology and biotechnology.
2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership, with new cooperation focused on green energy and artificial intelligence.
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The TASC Take Deepening trade and investment with the Kingdom's biggest partner means more cross-border projects, joint ventures and supplier relationships on the ground in Saudi Arabia — and demand for people to staff them. Multinationals scaling here need compliant hiring, payroll and EOR from day one, which is where TASC comes in. |
Source: Arab News
Construction
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55.4 alrajhi capital Saudi Construction Index in August — a 4th straight month of growth |
Saudi Arabia's construction sector expanded for the fourth consecutive month in August, with the seasonally adjusted alrajhi capital Saudi Construction Index — compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence — edging up to 55.4 from 55.2 in July, its second-highest reading since the survey began in January. Anything above 50 signals growth.
Residential building was the fastest-growing segment at 57.5, helped by new project starts and major urban schemes, while infrastructure (53.9) and non-residential (53.5) also grew. New orders rose sharply — strongest in infrastructure since February — and firms increased employment and purchasing, with supplier delivery times improving for a fourth month.
Companies stayed upbeat: 42 percent expect activity to rise over the year ahead versus just 7 percent forecasting a decline, though input costs picked up on higher aluminium, copper and steel prices.
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The TASC Take Four months of growth with rising new orders and firms adding staff means sustained demand for site engineers, project managers, QS and skilled trades — often at volume and at pace. Contractors scaling crews for new starts rarely want all of that on their own books, which is exactly where contract staffing does the work. |
Source: Arab News
Trade & Franchising
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2027 Saudi Franchise Forum planned for early 2027 as the two markets open to each other's brands |
The Saudi Export Development Authority (Saudi Exports) hosted the National Franchise Committee, the Moscow Export Center and Russia's TopFranchise Global in Riyadh to activate the Saudi-Russian Franchise Program, agreeing measures to help brands expand into each other's markets — joint workshops, streamlined licensing and coordinated participation in international franchise exhibitions. No brands or binding deals were announced.
Saudi Exports set out its incentives for companies going international — exhibitions, e-commerce listing, product registration, marketing, legal support and training — while the Moscow Export Center outlined support for Russian firms entering Saudi and Gulf markets. SAVA International was named the committee's operational arm for consultancy and regulatory support.
The two sides will look at BuyBrand Expo in Moscow (29 Sept–1 Oct) and a Saudi Franchise Forum expected in early 2027, broadening a relationship so far led by merchandise trade.
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The TASC Take A stronger franchise pipeline means more brands opening outlets across the Kingdom — retail, F&B and services that hire locally at scale. New-market entrants especially need fast, compliant recruitment, onboarding and payroll to launch stores on schedule, which is exactly what TASC provides. |
Source: Arab News
TASC in Saudi Arabia
Saudization in 2026: key hiring rules for employers
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