Now foreign investment is permitted in listed companies owning real estate within the two holiest cities of Islam, Makkah and Madina. Per the announcement made on Monday by the Saudi Arabian market regulator, this decision seeks to attract foreign capital and enhance liquidity in the ongoing and future projects in these two cities.
Foreign investors now actually have the opportunity to buy into these companies which are so closely tied to the Islamic pilgrimage-maybe a big income source for Saudi Arabia. New regulations, though, limit foreign investment, saying that it may only be in shares, convertible debt, or mixed instruments such that any entity that is not Saudi cannot own more than 49 percent of shares in these companies.
Also Read: Mohsin Naqvi Denies Attending Anti-China Event During US Visit
With the implementation of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is expecting to receive 30 million pilgrims annually for Hajj and Umrah by the year 2030. For these pilgrimages alone, the kingdom earned about $12 billion back in 2019. The yearly pilgrimage remains a vital sector in Saudi Arabia’s economy and is pivotal to the Vision 2030 reform agenda, which aims to diversify the economy away from its dependency on oil revenues.
This announcement saw the benchmark equity index in Saudi Arabia gain 0.2%, spurred on by a rise of 10 percent for the Jabal Omar Development Company and Makkah Construction and Development Company, notable companies participating in Makkah’ real estate market.