Saudi Arabia is spending more than $60 billion on a logistics hub, airport improvement and roads to reduce travel time in the Arab world’s biggest economy.
The investments also yielded the largest sukuk, or Islamic bond, offered in the Middle East this year and an initial public offering on the stock exchange in June.
“There is a large infrastructure boom happening in Saudi Arabia,” Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank, said in a phone interview on July 30. “Once they create these sukuk instruments, they cut their reliance on direct government funding and make it possible to buy into the projects. This policy benefits the government and investors.”
