Saudi Arabia has issued licenses to 90 international and domestic ventures worth 20.6 billion riyals ($5.49 billion) in the last month, state investment body, SAGIA, said on Saturday. It said in a statement several leading global firms were granted licenses in the Islamic month of Muharram, which ended on March 10.
They include China's second-largest telecoms equipment maker, ZTE Corp, which won a license for network operating and maintenance, and BNP Paribas, one of the largest banks in the eurozone, which got permission to open a branch.
SAGIA, set up five years ago to attract investment to the oil-rich kingdom, has granted licenses for billions of riyals worth of projects. But economists say only a fraction of the licenses issued have been translated into reality.
SAGIA said it also licensed other companies to operate across the construction, petrochemical and mining sectors.
Some of the ventures will also be joint-projects between Saudi investors and international companies.
Earlier this month, SAGIA issued licenses to 13 companies to provide insurance services. The market is dominated by formerly state-owned insurer Company for Co-operative Insurance.