The capacity of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to carry out its role as the economic heartbeat of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan has been thrown into doubt by the apparent shelving of the Saudi Aramco IPO (MEES, 24 Augustt).
The IPO was intended to raise $100bn seed capital for PIF to invest in a broad array of projects to diversify the Saudi economy. A new plan is needed, and Riyadh is considering having Aramco purchase PIF’s 70% stake in state-led petchems giant Sabic for $70bn (MEES, 31 August). Among the many potential issues here is that this falls $30bn short of PIF’s original financing plan. (CONTINUED - 2150 WORDS)
