Good morning, wonderful people. It’s a slow news day, a you might expect as we slide into the final days of Ramadan — and with many Western markets off for Easter weekend.

OIL WATCH- Oil giant Aramco has cut its April official selling prices (or “OSP,” in industry-speak) for propane and butane, according to a statement seen by Enterprise. Propane will be selling at USD 615 per ton, down from USD 630 per ton in March. The OSP for butane will be USD 620 per ton for this month, down from USD 640 per ton in March.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- New rules for online delivery services are going into effect across the Kingdom today. The regulations from the Transport General Authority (TGA) require a gradual phaseout by the of self-employment for non-Saudis at online delivery services. Only citizens will be allowed to work as self-employed couriers. Non-Saudi drivers have 14 months to find work with light transport firms and other delivery providers.

#2- The Saudi entrepreneurship scene ranks third in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (pdf) for 2023-2024, seeing its index score based on 13 performance indicators rise to 6.3 in 2022 and 2023 from 5.0 in 2019. The improvement comes as the Kingdom continues to promote business ownership and startups as part of the ongoing economic diversification drive.

Your next door neighbor might be a founder: One in four adults here were are either setting up a business or running one, coming in first place among economies with a GDP per capita of over USD 50k. The figure is twice that of pre-pandemic levels.

The Kingdom got props for support offered to Saudi women starting businesses, earning the Kingdom a score of 6.4, which sees it rank third on this metric out of the 49 global emerging market economies included in the report.

Word of caution: The report raised two notable flags, saying that on average, four out of every five of these new businesses are focused on consumer services — and saying that “urgent action is required [on support offered to new businesses] if Saudi Arabia is to maintain its new reputation as an excellent place to start a business.”

DATA POINTS-

Remittances by expats in Saudi fell 10.4% m-o-m in February to SAR 9.3 bn, down from SAR 10.4 bn, according to data compiled by Okaz. The m-o-m decline marks the lowest in average remittances figures in nearly five years, it said, without offering analysis or sufficient detail to break down the reasons behind the dip.

PSAs-

WEATHER- Expect another day of cloudy skies in the capital today with showers or light rain possibly continuing through noon. Look for the mercury to peak at a daytime high of 28°C before falling to an overnight low of 19°C. The long-range forecast suggests a chance of light thunderstorms and rain on Wednesday.

Scattered thunderstorms are in the cards for Makkah today, with temperatures in the holy city set to peak at 33°C before falling to 25°C overnight.

Meanwhile Madinah is looking at some cloudy patches, with no chances of rain. The weather will hit a high of 30°C and a low of 21°C.

So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:10pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:26 am tomorrow to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr. Today is day 22 of Ramadan.

SPORTS-

Al Hilal extended its world-record run of consecutive victories in all competitions after holding off on Saturday a late Al Shabab comeback in a 4-3 thriller. The team extended its record to 30 straight victories after sending down Al Shabab, having already set a world record by beating Al Ittihad 2-0 in the AFC Champions League last month.

What’s next? Al Hilal will face relegation-threatened Al Akhdood in the SPL tomorrow (Tuesday, 2 April).

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s an achingly slow morning for news around the world — not surprising given today is a holiday in much of the western world (Easter Monday) and that our part of the world is sliding into the final days of Ramadan.

UP FIRST- Is there still a chance the US might convince Israel to back off an invasion of Rafah? Conditions in the enclave continue to worsen as the US and Israel prepare for what Axios says in an exclusive will be “a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah.”

There’s no word on what the “alternative” might be for Gaza, where famine is imminent.

AND- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is on course for his biggest electoral setback in nearly two decades as voters in municipal elections reject his AKP. Opposition mayors look set to cruise to victory in the nation’s five largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Antalya. The story is everywhere from the Reuters to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Looking ahead: Kuwaiti voters go to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Enter the AI hypebeast: AI is having something of a crypto moment, the head of Google’s AI research division tells the Financial Times. The bns of USD pouring into generative AI startups “brings with it a whole attendant bunch of hype and maybe some grifting and some other things that you see in other hyped-up areas, crypto or whatever. … In a way, AI’s not hyped enough but in some senses it’s too hyped. We’re talking about all sorts of things that are just not real.” Read: Huge AI funding leads to hype and ‘grifting’, warns DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis.

FINALLY- Tesla’s latest challenger? It’s made by smartphone maker Xiaomi:

China’s Xiaomi has succeeded where Apple failed, becoming the first smartphone giant to make an EV. The SU7, introduced over the weekend, is a challenger to Tesla that takes a lot of its styling cues from Porsche — and that starts at USD 4k less than Tesla’s Model 3 with longer, 700-km range for the standard model. Check out the launch announcement here.

It looks like the SU7 will be a hit in China’s hypercompetitive EV market: Customers lined up for test drives until 3am on launch day, Car News China reports, and the 2024 production run sold out in just 24 hours — some 120k units were ordered in the first day and a half it was on sale, one report suggests. Xiaomi is also said to be readying a mid-to-large size electric SUV for introduction later this year.

Want to go deeper? Telescope, the best English-language channel on China’s crazy-wonderful car market, has a solid first look. His take? Very positive, but he’d love it if Xiaomi were to stop imitating Porsche and develop its automotive design language (watch, runtime; 11:12).

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Gulf Film Festival (GFF) will open from Sunday, 14 April till Thursday, 18 April in Riyadh. Organized by the Film Commission in cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) General Secretariat, the five-day event will showcase a selection of 29 films from across the region. It will also include three training workshops and six educational seminars focused on fostering artistic dialogue and raising awareness of cinema’s social impact.

The four-day Townhall Expo is slated for Thursday, 2 May, at Holiday Inn Hotel in Riyadh, featuring over 200 projects from Saudi-Egyptian real estate developers and investors who are aiming to wrap up EGP 2 bn in real estate transactions during the expo.

Egyptian real estate exhibition The Icon Show will open its doors on Thursday, 9 May to Saturday, 11 May in Jeddah. The exhibition sees the participation of 12 leading Egyptian real estate developers showcasing potential investments in Ras El Hekma, New Alamein, the New Administrative Capital and others.

The three-day Smart Future Expo will open its doors on Monday, 13 May at the Riyadh Front Exhibition and Convention Center. The gathering will include execs, investors, startups, and exhibitors, offering insights into smart tech including AI, AR, digital twin, cybersecurity, cloud computing, blockchain, business intelligence, IoT solutions, big data, and 3D printing.

Project tracking and analysis platform Meed is hosting Saudi Giga Projects 2024 forum on Monday, 13 May, at Crowne Plaza Riyadh, convening contractors, suppliers and top industry execs. The summit will provide an overview of the USD 870 bn mega projects currently under development across the Kingdom including Qiddiya, Roshn, and Neom.

Meed will also be hosting its annual MENA Construction Summit 2024 on Tuesday, 14 May, at the same venue, where industry leaders will have a chance to network and discuss the challenges and potentials of construction tech, climate change resilience and sustainable development in the digital economy.

The two-day Future Projects Forum kick starts on Monday, 20 May, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, where contractors and investors will be able to meet 40 project owners including Aramco, the PIF, Investment Ministry, Asir Municipality, Mawani, Modon, and the Transport General Authority. The forum is expected to feature projects worth SAR 1 tn where contractors and investors can access information about these projects and weigh their bidding success chances.

Cityscape Global is slated for 11-14 November 2024 in Riyadh. Last year the real estate event hosted 160k visitors, 380 speakers, 300 exhibitors and saw transactions worth a combined USD 30 bn close.

^^ Check out our full Calendar on the web for links to all of these conferences.

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