Good morning, wonderful people, and a very happy Christmas Eve to all those among you who observe. The traditional news slowdown is still taking hold this morning, with our top story diving deep into Sama’s overhauled fees for banks (and what that means for the much-needed non-interest income growth). We’re also looking into what comes next for the PIF-led USD 55 bn EA buyout after it secured shareholder approval on Monday. Let’s dive in.

Watch this space

ENERGY — Neom’s green hydrogen project is on track: 90% of construction work is done across all sites, Renewables Now reported, citing a statement by the Neom Green Hydrogen Company (NGHC). Completion is tabled for 2026, with initial deliveries of green ammonia to start in early 2027.

The mega plant — located at its floating industrial complex Oxagon — will produce up to 600 tons per day of no-carbon hydrogen in the form of green ammonia. The facility sources its power from up to 4 GW of solar and wind energy.

Work at Oxagon is apparently going forward as planned, unaffected by the ongoingrecalibration of Saudi’s gigaprojects, especially Neom, which has reportedly been undergoing a comprehensive review for a long while.

ECONOMY — The GCC’s real GDP is projected to expand by 4.4% in 2026, up from a projected 4% projected this year, buoyed by the non-oil sector, which now accounts for nearly 73.2% of the region’s total GDP, according to an Oxford Economics report picked up by Zawya. The figure for this year beat Oxford Economic’s expectations as an increase in oil production gave regional economies a boost, alongside momentum in the non-oil sector.

The region’s diversification strategies — from Saudi Arabia to Qatar and the UAE — are showing signs of maturing, making the regional economy more resistant to fluctuations in global crude prices.

Consumers in the region as well are said to be top performers, supported by lower unemployment rates and low inflation rates. Oxford Economics expects the inflation rate in the region to average 1.7% this year before rising to 2% in 2026.

Data point

USD 12.7 bn — the value of private equity and venture capital investments poured into the Middle East by the end of November, according to a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The figure beats the full-year total for 2024 by 46%.

Behind the figure: The Gulf’s economic diversification plans to move away from oil have pooled in ample funds from sovereign wealth funds and international private players alike. The region’s largest recorded investment this year was credited to Abu Dhabi with Emirates Global Aluminium’s USD 1.9 bn sale of its Al Taweelah power and water generation assets to Dubal Holding.

It hasn’t been a good year for PE fundraising. Data shows that the aggregate fund size for PE players in the region has fallen to USD 2.9 bn, down from nearly USD 4 bn last year. VC fundraising, however, was up 58.7% by the end of November to USD 2.2 bn.

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The big story abroad

It’s a quiet Christmas Eve morning in the global business press and there are few signs that will radically change as the day wears on: Asian stocks are trading sideways on thin volumes and many Western will close early today before taking tomorrow off entirely.

The US economy grew at a brisk 4.3% clip in the third quarter of the year, backed by consumer spending on healthcare and computing. That’s well ahead of the 3.2% pace at which analysts polled by Bloomberg expected the economy to expand. Investment by businesses slowed and exports fell in the same period.

Oil-price watchers, take note: The US has moved special operations forces into the Caribbean, ratcheting up pressure on Venezuela’s government. Washington is already enforcing a blockade of oil tankers moving into and out of the Latin American country.

CLOSER TO HOME- The Libyan Army’s chief of staff died in a plane crash yesterday evening after flying out of Ankara, where he and three other senior military officers were meeting with Turkish officials. The jet carrying the military leaders asked for permission to make an emergency landing shortly before the crash. There’s been no word on the cause of the incident.

Morning must-read

Longtime readers may remember we’ve frequently suggested in the past that women aren’t truly grownups until sometime around age 28 — and that for guys, it’s age 30 or later? That your prefrontal cortex isn’t fully “baked” until your mid-30s? We might have been onto something: New research suggests the brain’s “adolescent” phase runs from about age 9 through 32 — and that your noggin is then pretty stable until age 66, when early aging begins.

Go read: Your brain ages in five distinct stages in the Wall Street Journal or catch abreakdown from Cambridge University, where the research originated, if you’re not a Journal subscriber.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The Michelin Guide Saudi Arabia will hold its first Restaurant Celebration on 4 February 2026 at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh. The invite-only event will recognize 52 restaurants from Riyadh, Jeddah, and AlUla featured in the 2026 guide and showcase six Michelin-selected restaurants. Michelin officially launched in the Kingdom this year.

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