Via Laura Gardner Cuesta in yahoo.com: FDI inflows dropped 8% quarter-on-quarter to 18 billion riyals ($4.8 billion) in the three months through September and were also down from a year ago, according to data released Monday by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics. The tally brings inflows to $14.5 billion for the first nine months of 2024. That’s below year-ago levels and just half way to reaching the government’s target of $29 billion in 2024. To meet that goal, Saudi Arabia would need one of its biggest quarterly hauls ever for foreign investment. Saudi Arabia aims to quadruple FDI inflows to $100 billion by 2030 as it seeks to share some of the financial burden of spending on its economic diversification plan. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s government also sees foreign expertise as critical to training the local population in new industries like technology and minerals exploration and catalyzing growth in those sectors.
