In its report on the first half of 2017, the Investment Authority confirmed a 1301% increase in the issuance of investment project licenses compared to the same period in 2016, with 158 licenses issued for projects during the first half of 2017, with a total capital of 3.258 billion riyals, while 127 licenses were issued with a total capital of 1.392 billion riyals during the first half of 2016. China ranked first among countries licensed to invest in the Kingdom with a share of 254 million riyals, followed by the United States with a share of 187 million riyals. The Netherlands came in third with a share of nearly 180 million riyals.

Kiel, SAQIA’s Director of Marketing and Communications, said that the Authority recently implemented a series of reforms and initiatives, including the full automation of its procedures related to license issuance, and reducing the requirements for issuing licenses from 21 to just two. He explained that the Authority launched an instant licensing service, which enabled eight projects to commence operations with a total capital of 238.8 million riyals.Al-Saloum noted that the Authority’s Investor Care Center, during the first half of 2017, provided several channels to serve investors, including the creation of accounts on major social media platforms to handle investor requests by linking them to the Authority’s system. The average response time to calls was 8.5 seconds, and 93.51% of calls were answered within 20 seconds.