A sharp fall in its net profit, slipping 25 in 2023 compared to the previous year. Aramco attributed the downturn to Lower Crude Oil prices and decreased production. The companys net income dropped from 161 billion in 2022 to 121 billion last year. Despite the challenges posed by declining oil prices, aramco will increase its dividend payments, providing a much needed financial boost to saudi arabia. Lets get more now from our middle east Business Correspondent sameer hashmi. With a big fall off in profit, why is it increasing its dividend . It its dividend . Is a steep fall compared to 2022. It is a steep fall compared to 2022. It is still the second best performance in terms of annual results at 121 billion. Two reasons why they increased the dividend pay out. Number one, Aramco Abbott is the main driver of the Saudi Arabian economy. Saudi owned entities own 19 of it and they rely heavily on that income to really find some these massive projects inside arabia. They tried to keep the
What this materials more means for the rest of the world. The consensus is that will be damaging not fatal for the United States. The reason china dominate the market is not because it is the only place where gallium and germanium exists, but because it is by far the cheapest place you can get them from. You dontjust dig them up from the ground, they are derived from a more complicated Reduction Process and china has that capability. So governments and businesses will have to rely on cheaper substitutes and alternative sources. It means prices will go up, it means some products might be less effective and some production right be delayed. 50 some production right be delayed some production right be dela ed. , delayed. So this sort of poses a bit of an delayed. So this sort of poses a bit of an existential delayed. So this sort of poses a bit of an existential thread i a bit of an existential thread for western industry. Finding a place for western industry. Finding a place for for west
is the closest estimation to its sales figures. 0ur north america business correspondent erin delmore reports. calls itself the big scarber brown you ve never heard of, but it may be about to change. more of vehicles in the last three months than tesla did. that s a first. the american company is facing headwinds, higher borrowing costs in the us led to spelling demand slowing demand. but the chinese rival is a gluing, enjoying tailwinds with them unlike tesla, byob makes its own batteries, so controlling that part of the supply gives byd more ability to cut prices. as my colleague erin hasjust reported, tesla s latest number puts byd ahead of the curve. the chinese ev maker reported around three million in sales last year, but that number comprises both electric cars and hybrid vehicles. but even as the competition us revving up, it s worth noting that in terms of overall deliveries in 2023, tesla still has byd beat. however, the chinese ev maker s could keep the momentum
let s start with china, because it s currently holding its annual two day national people s congress and has set out its economic forecast for the year. premier li keqiang told a packed audience in beijing on sunday, that the government hoped to achieve economic growth of around 5% in 2023. the figure is in line with most analyst predictions. last year, successive strict lockdowns slowed china s growth. official figures show the world s second largest economy grew by 3% last year, which was way below the government target of five and a half % and its slowest for decades. lets discuss this with louise loo, senior economist at oxford economics. there s widely expected to be a big shakeup in the team handling the economy. around 5%, it probably implies that growth as low as 4.5% is probably acceptable to the government and we do think that means the policy matters that we see will be a little bit more than what we expect last year. more than what we expect last ear. , , , ye
the imf said it welcomed steps announced by policymakers earlier this month to stabilise china s beleaguered property sector. lets get the low down now with louise loo, who is china economist at oxford economics. louise, looking for china. projected to grow beyond expectations. projected to grow beyond expectations. yes, exactly. this is very expectations. yes, exactly. this is very positive - this is very positive assessment. i think the upgrade to the growth forecast notjust this year, next year, suggest to us that there is a good sense of expectation that policies will continue to be quite supportive of the economy. i think generally it is quite good news if you think about the different structural problems the economy faces, including property. including property. property bein: including property. property being the including property. property being the main including property. property being the main one. - including property. property being the main one. it