H.E. Fahad Abdullah Almubarak, governor of SAMA, honored teams participating in the joint research program in its first edition, His Excellency also handed the Saudi Central Bank Award to the winning research team during a ceremony organized at SAMA's headquarters in Riyadh.

On this occasion, Almubarak highlighted the importance of research in supporting the decision-making process, the response of researchers to the various stages of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, and the need to deliver research that will add value to the Saudi economy.

Almubarak pointed out that important sectors are starting to take their place in the Saudi economy; it emerged as a result of Kingdom's Vision 2030 programs, including culture, sports, entertainment and tourism. He noted in this regard that researchers should focus on topics related to these sectors and discuss their effects on the economy and economic diversity in the Kingdom, in addition to paying further attention to topics related to digitalization and innovation in order to keep pace with the latest trends in the field of research around the world, such as economic, digitalization and innovation areas in general, and SAMA's responsibilities in particular. Almubarak further noted that SAMA oversees vital economy sectors such as banking, insurance and financial companies, as well as payment systems and companies. His Excellency also stressed SAMA's continued support in encouraging research and researchers, whether through the Joint Research Program or other programs sponsored by SAMA.

It serves to note that the Joint Research Program was launched in its first edition in September 2020 to support research participation among qualified SAMA researchers and other specialists from outside the Central Bank. In its first edition, the program covered six topics: macroeconomic and foreign trade, financial sector, labor market, energy, private sector and current topics. The program saw a strong turnout, with 226 research proposals submitted, of which 14 were selected for research covering the six program themes. The program also received proposals from university staff, government and private sectors as well as commercial banks.