The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu has allocated around SR10 billion [U.S.$2.66 billion] for the development of a second Jubail Industrial City designed to support the Kingdom's strategy for substitution of imports and promotion of exports. The new area, to be called the western industrial zone, will house twenty basic industries. Designs have already been completed, including infrastructure such as water pipelines, roads, and access to the King Fahd Industrial Port. The expansion will take place in four phases.

There are 2,280 projects in all in both Jubail and Yanbu, 228 industrial, 1,347 in the service sector, and five in the agricultural sector. Total investment is estimated at SR57.6 billion [U.S. $15.4 billion]. The top investing countries are the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Syria, India, Germany, Jordan and Palestine. The two industrial cities now account for around seven percent of the Kingdom's GDP.

Meanwhile, the Saudi stock market continued its bull run in the week ending Wednesday, November 3, hitting another record high on strong results from top firms and oil prices that remain high. The all-share index rose 3.5 percent to 7,463.97 points, up from 7,210 last week. The index is up 68.2 percent so far this year. Bakheet Financial Advisors (BFA) said the banking sector had a particularly good week. Saudi Arabia's second largest listed bank, Riyad Bank, saw its stock price rise by 16 percent to SR515.25 [$137.58] on the back of strong profit growth.

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