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  • UK Launches Saudi Investment Drive to Grab Share of MBS’s Vision

    The UK and Saudi Arabia will hold a trade expo in Riyadh next month as Rishi Sunak launches an investment drive aimed at taking advantage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 project. A delegation of more than 300 British business executives will join Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden at the Saudi Great Futures event on May 14-15, according to a statement from Dowden’s office. The event will mark the start of a year-long campaign to showcase UK firms to Saudi investors with a focus on sectors that support the country’s Vision 2030, which was established by bin Salman eight years ago to diversify the economy away from oil.

  • Doing the work: MBS’ true legacy

    Given our clickbait, short-attention-span media reality, we can’t really be surprised that Saudi Arabia’s splashy external investments and massive ‘giga’ projects are the glitter that catches the eye of the inattentive. In fact, while the Kingdom’s high-profile investments and massive construction projects actually do serve a purpose, the truly meaningful change that should matter to Americans and its elected officials is happening elsewhere.

  • Gulf markets slip on Fed rate worries; Saudi climbs

    Most stock markets in the Gulf slipped on Wednesday as investors turned cautious after strong readings on the U.S. economy tempered bets on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. Investors' focus is now on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech and March private payrolls and services sector data later in the day to get more clues on the rate outlook.

  • Saudi Crown Prince MBS’s $100 Billion Foreign Investment Quest Falters

    The short-term reality is more complicated. California-based Lucid is increasingly guzzling Saudi money to stay in business. Last week it got a $1 billion cash lifeline from the kingdom, on top of the $5.4 billion Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has already pumped in. Lucid, which counts the PIF as its top shareholder, had been held up as an example of foreign firms investing in Saudi Arabia’s multi-trillion-dollar “Vision 2030” economic transformation plan. But Lucid’s need for Saudi money is one sign the country’s rushed attempt at reinvention is being paid for out of pocket, with the kingdom relying heavily on its oil riches to entice firms in.

  • Sullivan to meet MBS to push Saudi side of Israel mega-deal

    With the war in Gaza ongoing and the U.S. presidential election just seven months away, White House officials admit there's a slim chance they can pull off the historic peace agreement. Sullivan's trip shows President Biden is still determined to pursue it.

  • White House’s Sullivan traveling to Saudi Arabia for talks with MBS

    White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid a U.S. push for progress toward normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
    Talks on normalization had been put on ice in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas fighters on southern Israel and Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, but conversations have resumed in recent months.

  • Iran says Israel bombs its embassy in Syria, kills commanders

    Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, marking a major escalation in Israel's war with its regional adversaries.
    Reuters reporters at the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus saw emergency workers clambering atop rubble of a destroyed building inside the diplomatic compound, adjacent to the main Iranian embassy building. Emergency vehicles were parked outside. An Iranian flag hung from a pole by the debris.

  • US has agreed to send more bombs and warplanes to Israel, sources say

    The U.S. in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.
    The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

  • Saudi Arabia’s PIF To Ramp Up Bond Sales, IPOs to Pay for MBS’s Projects

    Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is considering plans to accelerate debt sales or obtain bank loans as it hunts for new sources of cash to help pay for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s trillion-dollar economic transformation project. The Public Investment Fund could also line up equity offerings in its portfolio companies as part of the push, according to people familiar with the matter. The moves come as the fund’s cash reserves have dropped to $15 billion as of September — the lowest level since 2020, the earliest year for which data is available.

  • Saudi Arabia’s economic shifts under MBS raise stability concerns

    MBS, unlike many leaders in the region, is popular. In fact, he enjoys a level of popularity last experienced by leaders immediately following independence. Such cohesiveness could indeed create momentum for the Kingdom to enact further bold reforms. Yet the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine risks engulfing the region, and this uncertainty could derail Saudi Arabia’s transformation agenda.