Saudi Arabia¡¯s annual investment showpiece kicks off this week against a steady drumbeat of headlines on the kingdom¡¯s strained finances: The deficit has grown as oil prices persist below levels needed to balance the budget, forcing spending to be reprioritized and parts of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman¡¯s trillion-dollar ambitions to be scaled back.
At the center of it all will be Richard Attias, who has spent the past decade courting investors to back the kingdom¡¯s economic transformation. The Moroccan-born power broker is ensconced at the heart of Saudi Arabia¡¯s global outreach, often pictured with Crown Prince Mohammed, Yasir Al Rumayyan, who runs the $1 trillion Public Investment Fund, and even U.S. President Donald Trump.
¡°The show must go on,¡± he said on the sidelines of last year¡¯s Future Investment Initiative that opened under the shadow of war. Tensions shrouding the region may have ebbed, but this year¡¯s event presents challenges of its own ¡ª mainly the kingdom¡¯s pivot from being an exporter of capital to a seeker of foreign cash.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.