RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has reduced customs clearance time by 84 percent to just two hours by the end of 2022, down from 13 hours the previous year, the director general of Customs Operations Department at the Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority revealed on Thursday.

Ammar Al-Salami was speaking at a session titled “Custom clearance within two hours” on the second day of a conference organized by the authority in Riyadh. The top official highlighted the authority’s achievements and measures it is taking to expedite official procedures to facilitate all stakeholders.

“We started in 2021 in January with about 13 hours (custom-clearance time) to end up with about two hours for clearance in 2022,” the director general disclosed.

Back in 2017, customs clearance used to take around 12 days, Al-Salami added. He went on to explain that the clearance within the two-hour initiative is directly linked to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 blueprint.

Moreover, the number of documents required for import has also been reduced to two, down from 12 papers previously.

The end goal of the initiative is to further elevate and improve the customer experience in Saudi Arabia, the official said.

He acknowledged the fact that some customers faced inordinate delays or other issues but said that the relevant authorities are taking all steps necessary to control such incidents.

 “We have re-engineered the operational model. We are reclassifying importers, exporters, and brokers,” the director general said.

“We have also activated electronic services to submit the declaration through Fasah which helped us to automate customs data,” he added.

Fasah is a unified electronic window launched to facilitate the import and export system. It is an integrated platform that aims to facilitate international trade services by automating procedures.

The authority has also been working on continuously supporting customers which is evident through the launch of 10 new comprehensive services provided at different outlets, Al-Salami said.

The Zakat, Tax, and Customs conference aims to tackle global experiences in the fields and discuss the future of digitizing those sectors as well as propelling trade and protecting national security.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s president said Tuesday that China has given crucial debt restructuring assurances that mean the bankrupt Indian Ocean nation could get its $2.9 billion bailout package approved soon. President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament that a letter from China’s EXIM bank with the necessary assurances was received on Monday night and immediately he and the Central Bank governor sent a letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund for the final approval. “Now we have done our part, and I expect the IMF will do its share by the end of this month, by the third or fourth week,” Wickremesinghe said. China owns about 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, which exceeds $51 billion. Its delayed assurances were seen as the last hurdle in securing the bailout deal after India and other creditors gave early pledges. Wickremesinghe said he expects financial assistance from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to start coming soon after the IMF deal is reached. He said, however, that difficult economic reforms needed to be carried out as agreed with the IMF and Sri Lanka can’t afford to sidestep from them as it has done with 16 past agreements. “We must stress one fact: We don’t repay foreign debt at the moment, we only repay loans to the multilateral financial institutions. If we break the agreement with the IMF, we will be compelled to repay loans to foreign countries and private banks,” Wickremesinghe said. “We have approximately $ 6-7 billion to repay every year until 2029. We don’t have foreign currency to do that, and therefore it is imperative that the IMF keeps engaging with our creditors on the agreements reached on debt sustainability.” Wickremesinghe did not reveal what has been agreed with the IMF but said he will present details before Parliament for approval. He also warned he will crush any street protests trying to derail reform efforts. Professionals and workers in many other sectors have been protesting for months over sharp increases in electricity charges and income taxes to strengthen state revenue, a prerequisite for the IMF package. Opposition parties have been demanding elections for village and town councils that were postponed by authorities citing a lack of funds. Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis caused severe shortage of food, medicine, fuel, cooking gas and electricity last year, leading to angry street protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee from the country and resign. The economy has shown signs of improvement since Wickremesinghe took over as president last July with shortages reduced, power cuts ended and the Sri Lankan rupee starting to strengthen.

HOUSTON: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation sees the global oil market in balance through at least the first half of this year, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Demand from China is seeing a sustainable increase, Nawaf Al-Sabah told reporters at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.

The CEO of the national oil company added that Kuwait has not lost any market share in China from discounted Russian oil barrels.

KPC’s customers have not asked for reductions or increases in oil supply from the company, Al-Sabah said. He added that the company is staying mindful of the effect a potential recession could have on the global economy and oil market.

During a conference discussion, Al-Sabah referenced an announcement from earlier on Tuesday that second phase units for Kuwait’s Al-Zour refinery are now operating. State news agency KUNA previously reported the news, citing KIPIC CEO Waleed Al-Badr.

The much delayed 615,000 barrel-per-day refinery is one of the several new complexes coming online this year across the world to churn out more oil products and cool refining margins from record levels last year following the disruption of supplies from top exporter Russia.

Kuwait is set to ramp up refined oil product exports from the Al-Zour refinery in the second half of 2023 to plug Russian shortfalls in Europe and meet growing demand in Asia and Africa, Reuters previously reported in February, citing industry sources and analysts.

The Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co. shipped its first shipment of low-sulphur fuel oil from the Al Zour refinery to Singapore, KUNA reported in November.

NEW YORK: Oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday after five days of gains, as comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stoked rate hike fears, the dollar strengthened and top crude importer China issued weak data.

Brent crude futures shed $1.46, or 1.7 percent, to $84.72 a barrel by 11:06 a.m. EST (1606 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped by $1.63 a barrel, or 2 percent, at $78.83.

Prices declined after Powell told Congress the Fed would likely need to increase rates more than expected in light of recent strong economic data.

The remarks pushed up the US dollar, which rose 0.7 percent on the day at 104.97.

A stronger dollar typically reduces demand for dollar-denominated oil from buyers paying with other currencies.

Further pressure came from a contraction in China’s exports and imports in January and February, including crude oil imports, despite a lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

“Given the high inflation in the US and Europe, demand from there should keep weakening, which also dampens processing demand in China,” said Iris Pang, ING’s chief economist for Greater China.

Declines were limited, however, by supply concerns. Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth on Monday told a Houston conference that there is “not a lot of swing capacity,” making the global market vulnerable to any unexpected supply disruption.

“The key unknown for 2023 will be the disruption to Russia’s oil and refined product exports,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.

US crude inventories could register their first decrease in 10 weeks, a Reuters poll showed before official data is published this week.

RIYADH: In a bid to help members tide over the challenging economic environment, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund agreed to temporarily increase the limits on their annual and cumulative access to its resources in the General Resources Account. While the annual limit in the GRA was raised from 145 percent to 200 percent of the member country’s quota, the cumulative limit was increased from 435 percent to 600 percent of quota for a period of 12 months, according to a statement. 

Access to resources beyond these limits is subject to the requirements of the IMF’s exceptional access framework. These moves are aimed at providing member countries, particularly emerging markets and developing economies, which face increased financing pressures to access with higher IMF financial support without triggering the exceptional access framework.  

The measure follows permission last month for five development lenders to use their reserves to help poor or less unfortunate countries. 

If necessary, before the end of the 12-month period IMF staff is likely to re-engage the Executive Board on a proposal to maintain for longer the higher GRA access limits. 

Moreover, IMF’s Executive Board also reviewed possible changes in access limits under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which is the concessional financing arm of the international lender. 

Concessional financing refers to the below market rate finance provided by major financial institutions such as development banks as well as multilateral funds to help assist developing countries in supporting their development goals.  

PRGT access limits were last raised by 45 percent in 2021. According to the IMF, the demand for the PRGT resources has increased sharply and is expected to further grow in light of successive shocks.  

Once sufficient additional resources have been pledged to the PRGT, which currently faces a sizable subsidy resource gap, IMF is also likely to undertake a review of PRGT access limits. 

RIYADH: The Emirates Global Aluminium reported 7.4 billion dirhams ($2 billion) in 2022 net profit, a 34 percent rise from a year earlier.

A rise in production and sales drove the revenues up, the company said on Tuesday.

Adjusted profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — also known as EBITDA — increased 37 percent to 12.4 billion dirhams. 

The aluminum firm also said the 36 percent adjusted EBITDA compared to 35 percent in 2021, is one of the highest among industry peers. Cash generated from operating activities of $3.4 billion increased 70 percent from $2 billion in 2021, it added. 

The company paid shareholders dividends of 3.7 billion dirhams, consisting of an interim dividend of 2.2 billion dirhams in July and a further 1.5 billion dirhams, making it the largest payout for shareholders in the company’s history.

“Our performance demonstrated our resilience and strength at every step of the value chain,” said EGA CEO Abdulnasser bin Kalban said. 

“I am confident that EGA will deliver another competitive performance in 2023 compared to peers in the sector,” he added. 

However, EGA reported an impairment loss of $288 million for mining assets and related equipment at Guinea Alumina Corp., a prudent accounting measure representing higher capital costs and other market conditions in Guinea.