[teaserteam]

Saudi will need Trillion to fulfill its dream.  They upped their target 5 folds for foreign direct investment from about 20 billion per year to 100 billion per year.  So far,  they have closed 64 deals in 1Q, down from 104 a year ago.  It is not known if they will even hit the previous target.

Saudi Arabia closed the fewest number of first-quarter investment deals since 2021 in a further sign the kingdom is struggling to attract funding from private companies and foreign investors.

The country finalized 64 transactions in the first three months of 2024, according to data from the Ministry of Investment, down 40% on a year earlier. The count is slightly below that recorded in the fourth quarter.

The US and the UK were leading investors, followed by the UAE, Egypt and Singapore. The report didn’t say why the number fell.

Saudi Arabia is heavily focused on securing external investment and locking in more partnerships that will help drive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to diversify the economy by 2030. The kingdom estimates it will need trillions of dollars by the end of the decade for various projects, intended to help expand into the likes of hi-tech, manufacturing and tourism and ease a dependence on oil revenues.

That includes a target of $100 billion in foreign direct investment a year, compared with an estimated $19 billion in 2023 and an average of $17 billion from 2017-2022.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...e-year-low