Megaprojects in the desert sap Saudi Arabia’s cash

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, has expansive ambitions for the kingdom. (Image: AP)

Sat, 24 Feb 2024

By Eliot Brown, with assistance from Summer Said and Ben Dummett Saudi Arabia has been a conveyor belt of flashy spending plans over the past year: a US$48 billion (NZ$77b) property development anchored by a quarter-mile-tall cube; a global airline to rival aviation giants; a merger with the PGA Tour; a $100b investment in chips and electronics.It is all getting rather expensive.The country’s sovereign-wealth fund, which is tasked with these initiatives, last month said its cash levels as of September had fallen by roughly three-quar...

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