Saudi government to privatize mining company, float shares in insurance firm

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2004

RIYADH (AFP) — The body in charge of economic reforms in oil-rich Saudi Arabia decided to privatize the state-owned mining company and float government shares in the country's main insurance firm.

A meeting of the Supreme Economic Council (SEC) chaired by Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz "approved the major steps to privatize the Ma'aden company," the official SPA news agency said, quoting the council's secretary general, Abdurrahman al-Tuwaijri.

Tuwaijri said the council had also agreed to sell all the state's shares in the National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI) to the public.

The shares are held through the Public Investment Fund, Tuwaijri said, adding that required procedural measures would be taken to implement the two...