PIF launched Tawrid Co. for Financing Solutions, a digital platform connecting buyers, suppliers and funders with products including early settlement against approved invoices, as the Kingdom works to widen SME financing. The Financial Sector Development Program targets raising SMEs' share of bank financing to 20% by 2030, while the latest IMF data show SME loans accounted for 11% of total bank loans in 2025.
Invoice-backed credit is the chosen mechanism to reach 20%, so a finance director at a Saudi SME should prepare payables data instead of another loan application.
Explore more signals
47,000 new customers in a quarter
Saudi Energy posted H1 2026 revenue up 11% to SR52 billion and net income up nearly 8% to SR6.7 billion, though Q2 net profit fell 7% on higher finance costs. Capital expenditure reached SR39 billion, up 6%. The customer base hit 11.6 million, with more than 47,000 added in Q2; the distribution network grew 5%, transmission 4% and fibre-optic lines 7%. The stock is up over 25% year to date.
47,000 new connections in three months is roughly 500 a day, paid for with capex running near six times profit, the grid is being built ahead of the country that will eventually fill it.
Foreign direct investment tops SR1.1 trillion
Saudi Arabia's foreign direct investment stock reached SR1,122.8 billion at the end of Q1 2026, up 12% year on year and representing about 32% of total foreign investment in the Kingdom, against total foreign investment of SR3,530.8 billion, up 18% year on year.
FDI growing 12% while total foreign investment grew 18% means portfolio and other investment are growing faster than direct investment, hot money is currently outpacing the patient kind.
Ad money grows up
A Snap–Kearney study found an 8-point gap between Saudi digital ad-spend growth and e-commerce growth; 30%+ of Saudi consumers find advertising culturally off-key.
The takeaway: A third of Saudi consumers feel that the ads don't represent them; the biggest growth driver isn't budget, but rather cultural fluency.
