Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports increased by 38.2 per cent year-on-year in September 2021, rising to SR25.3 billion ($6.74 billion) from SR18.3 billion last year.

Among the exports, plastics and rubber increased by 42.8 per cent to SR2.4 billion and chemical products increased by 31.4 per cent SR1.7 billion. Non-oil exports increased compared to the previous month (August 2021) by SR2.3 billion or 10.1 per cent, an SPA report said.

According to a report submitted by the General Authority for Statistics, overall merchandise exports increased by 77.4 per cent in September 2021 compared to September 2020, when international trade was impacted by Covid-related lockdowns and travel bans in numerous countries.

The value of exports amounted to SR94.7 billion in September 2021, up from SR53.4 billion in September 2020. This increase was mainly from oil exports, which rose by SR34.3 billion or 97.8 per cent in the same period.

Merchandise imports increased by 9.2 per cent in September 2021. The value of imports amounted to SR45.8 billion in September 2021 compared to SR42.0 billion in September 2020. This increase was due to the increase in many sectors, mainly 'machinery and mechanical appliances; electrical equipment' (15.9 per cent), and 'products of the chemical or allied industries' (17.9 per cent). Imports, however, decreased compared to the previous month (August 2021) by SR5.7 billion or 11.0 per cent.

The ratio of non-oil exports to imports increased to 55.2 per cent in September 2021 from 43.6 per cent in September 2020, as a result of a higher increase in non-oil exports (38.2 per cent) than in imports (9.2 per cent) over that period.

The UAE’s fast-food service sector is expected to grow at 5.8 per cent per year to $4.51 billion in 2022, up from $3.66 billion in 2018, according to a report by Statista.com, a digital market intelligence provider.

The full-service restaurants revenue in the UAE is expected to reach $2.34 billion in 2022, up from $1.94 billion recorded in 2018, while the sales revenue of the coffee and tea shops is estimated to reach $705 million next year, up from $584.5 million. The ice cream parlour market is the smallest, with revenue expected to reach $42.2 million in 2022, up from $35.4 million in 2018, the report showed.

The total number of operational restaurants and cafés in the emirate of Dubai reached 11,813 at the end of 2018, according to the Department of Economic Development (DED), making Dubai the food capital of the Middle East. In 2018, the number of fast-food chain outlets in the UAE reached 996, followed by coffee and tea shops at approximately 850 outlets.

The global restaurant and foodservice industry is worth around $34.25 billion and is estimated to grow to $56.3 billion by 2027. According to estimates for 2020, the worldwide number of foodservice establishments was around 23.13 million. Only around 300,000 of those were based in the Middle East and Africa, says Statista.

The advertisement spend on Facebook and Instagram in the Middle East increased by 33.32 per cent year-over-year (YoY) during the Q3, and by 7.38 per cent between Q2 and Q3, according to a report by Emplifi, a leading unified customer experience (CX) platform.

Etihad Airways had the top three performing posts on Facebook, generating 1,605,310 interactions, and Emirates the best performing post on Instagram – its Burj Khalifa stunt which had 402,479 interactions. Meanwhile, global ad spend on Facebook and Instagram grew 43.4 per cent YoY during the third quarter of 2021, fuelled by a 10.5 per cent growth between Q2 and Q3, says Emplify in its “State of Social Media and CX” report for Q3 2021. In the Middle East, brand spending on Facebook’s News Feed was 21.48 percentage points higher than spending on Instagram’s News Feed. The increase in Facebook ad investment by marketers represents a clear sign of the times, with ad spend connected to the accommodation industry experiencing 94 per cent growth year-over-year as countries reopen their borders and travel resumes across the globe.

Trend Micro solutions detected and blocked over 5 million (5,435,089) email threats, prevented over 670K (670,547) malicious URL victim attacks, and over 1K (1,122) URL hosts in Bahrain during the first half of the year.

In addition, over 200K (219,796) malware attacks were identified and stopped, while 115 online related banking malware threats were blocked, said Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, in its Midyear Security Roundup for H1 2021: Attacks from All Angles.

Ransomware remained the standout threat in the first half of the year as cybercriminals continued to target big-name victims.

The report also shows that home networks in Bahrain were a major attraction for cybercriminals looking to pivot to corporate systems, devices, and networks. Trend Micro’s Smart Home Network (SHN) solutions blocked nearly 9K (9,814) SHN inbound and outbound attacks combined, preventing over 400K (474,328) such SHN events for hackers to target or control home devices from executing malware, obtaining sensitive information, intercepting communications, or launching external attacks. The report states that globally Trend Micro solutions blocked 40.9 billion email threats, malicious files and URLs for customers in H1 2021, with a 47 per cent year-on-year increase. 

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2022, an increase of 5.5 per cent from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner. 

“Enterprises will increasingly build new technologies and software, rather than buy and implement them, leading to overall slower spending levels in 2022 compared to 2021,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.

“However, digital tech initiatives remain a top strategic business priority for companies as they continue to reinvent the future of work, focusing spending on making their infrastructure bulletproof and accommodating increasingly complex hybrid work for employees going into 2022.”

Enterprise software is expected to have the highest growth in 2022 at 11.5 per cent, driven by infrastructure software spending continuing to outpace application software spending. Global spending growth on devices reached a peak in 2021 (15.1 per cent) as remote work, telehealth and remote learning took hold, but Gartner expects 2022 will still show an uptick in enterprises that upgrade devices and/or invest in multiple devices to thrive in a hybrid work setting.