This week, Haaretz Hebrew newspaper published a new report under the title “Will MBS Bankrupt Saudi Arabia?”
According to the report, the Vision 2030 declared by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is estimated at the eye-watering $7 trillion-plus.
But five years in and with little progress in sight, cracks are appearing in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship project to diversify the oil-driven Saudi economy.
Saudi’s Neom: A city of Fantasy
Neom’s former employees raised concerns that bringing the giga-project out of the realm of science fiction might never happen. Architecture experts have called it “insane.” Sources inside the royal circle no longer shy away from lashing out at MBS’ ever-changing ideas, “mood swings,” “terrible tempers” and fear-based leadership.
MBS to Bankrupt Saudi Arabia
The paper quoted several experts as expressing their dissatisfaction with the project, saying the Neom [the plan’s centerpiece, a ‘city of the future’ to house nine million people] is more of a huge R&D hub.
According to the report, about half of the SAR 1.2 trillion ($320 billion) first phase of the project, scheduled to run until 2030, will be funded by the Public Investment Fund, an MBS-era $620 billion state-within-the-state financial vehicle to diversify the kingdom’s oil-driven economy.
Government subsidies and other sovereign wealth funds in the region will fund the other half, it added, pointing out that Saudi private investors will also be encouraged to pitch in during a potential public listing of Neom in 2024.
The paper concluded by raising questions about how consensual this private investment will be.
Saudi Arabia, the paper reported, “bullied” several of the kingdom’s wealthiest families to become cornerstone investors out of “patriotic duty” in the IPO of Saudi energy firm Aramco in 2019.
