Questioning Saudi Arabia's rulers can get you locked up. That makes doing business in the kingdom difficult
conference hall the boss of a $100bn tech fund spoke to rows of empty chairs. Then he briefly fell asleep. Outside the hall Anthony Scaramucci, the colourful financier who lasted ten days as Donald Trump’s communications director, dispensed questionable political analysis. An American company hawked jetpacks. A robot urged passers-by to tickle her head. “It will make you feel better,” she said.
This was the third Future Investment Initiative , Saudi Arabia’s flagship business conference. The event, which wrapped up in Riyadh on October 31st, attracted some 6,000 guests. That made Saudi officials feel better. The first, in 2017, was a coming-out party for the economic-reform programme of Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince . But the second, last year, was overshadowed by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist, by Saudi agents. Top executives stayed away.
To be sure, there are positive signs. Non-oil growth has ticked up and unemployment down. Officials at thewere eager to talk about the kingdom’s jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index . Riyadh, the dour capital, has loosened up in ways unthinkable five years ago. A cultural festival hosted performances of the “Wizard of Oz”, a remarkable sight in a place that long prosecuted people for “witchcraft”.
On the kingdom’s most important priority, creating jobs for citizens, progress is both visible and slow. Young Saudis welcome guests to hotels and brew lattes in cafés, unimaginable sights in most Gulf countries. But unemployment among nationals remains above 12%. Executives grumble about ever-higher fees for employing foreign labour. In September the cabinet waived such fees for five years in the manufacturing sector, which employs 645,000 migrants, 10% of the total foreign workforce.
Many Saudis are eager to buy shares, seeing it as both a lucrative opportunity and a patriotic duty. Yet this could turn Aramco into a political problem for Prince Muhammad. He believes it should be valued at $2trn. Banks working on thethink it is worth much less. There could be a backlash if locals pile into an overpriced offering and get burned. But few Saudis dare raise such concerns in public. An economist who questioned thewas jailed last year.
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