RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has become a more attractive destination for investment since the Kingdom introduced its ambitious Vision 2030, according to the head of the Saudi Stock Exchange Sarah Al-Suhaimi.
“Eight years into Vision 2030, (it) has turned Saudi Arabia to a reliable and investible destination; this has been proven by numbers and I think this is just the beginning,” Al-Suhaimi said during the Saudi-US Investment Forum on Tuesday.
It had been made possible under the Kingdom’s leadership and by everyone working in the Saudi capital market to “create a market that is globally integrated, open and trustworthy” — from local and international participants alike, she said.
“Particularly, as we are in the Saudi-US investment forum, I would like to mention a few examples of a very old relationship (between both countries).
“One of them, if we talk about capital market infrastructure, our partnership between Nasdaq — an American stock exchange — goes more than 20 years back. And now we’re working together on upgrading those systems.”
Tuesday's session hosted Saudi Stock Exchange Sarah Al-Suhaimi alogside BlackRock CEO Larry Fink (R), and Saudi economist Muhammed Al-Jasser (L). (Supplied)
Al-Suhaimi said that the Saudi Stock Exchange, or Tadawul, was among the world’s largest stock exchanges.
“We have a very advanced stock exchange, which also led us to be one of the tenth largest exchanges in the world.”
The same session also hosted Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, who said it was “quite remarkable what Saudi Arabia has done” in diversifying its economy — whether in tourism, life sciences, gaming and sports, and AI.
“I think it is so wonderful and but also quite remarkable what the Kingdom has done,” Fraser said.
“This is now mutually a beneficial relationship. Now, this isn’t the US coming in saying to Saudi what the advice is and what to do, this is about trying to support a partner, but equally a partner supporting the US back home as well,” she said.
Meanwhile, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said tens of trillions of dollars of financial firepower is sitting idle in cash amid trade war worries and uncertainty over the United States economy, whose deficits are beginning to spook investors.
“There is 12 trillion euros sitting in bank accounts in Europe. In the United States, there's $11 trillion sitting in money markets funds. When there is uncertainty, you are going to keep more and more money in cash and that is what we witnessed,” Fink told delegates at the Riyadh forum.
He also praised Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 economic transformation program, saying the kingdom was building a diversified economy that had potential to become a 21st century global leader.
(with input from Reuters)
