Saudis desperately trying to diversify their economy

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http://in.reuters.com/article/uk-saudi-reserves-investment-idINKBN13O2XN

>Saudi king allocates 100 billion riyals from reserves to public investment fund

>Saudi Arabia's King Salman approved the allocation of 100 billion riyals ($26.67 billion) from the kingdom's reserves to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Wednesday, according to a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

>The funds would be used to support both foreign and local investments, particularly opportunities in the local market that would help to build the private sector, the statement said.

>It did not elaborate on a timeline for the investments, but said they would be phased.

>Under economic reforms announced early this year, the Saudi government said it aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the country, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion by transferring assets such as ownership of state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

>That would make the PIF the world's biggest sovereign fund by far on paper, though not necessarily in terms of the cash it had available for investment.

>The fund will increase investments abroad - in June, it bought a stake in U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber for $3.5 billion - but it will still focus much of its attention on local projects designed to reduce Saudi Arabia's reliance on oil exports.

>On Monday, the fund announced plans to buy a major stake in Adeptio, the Gulf-based investment firm which controls Kuwait Food Co (Americana).

>It is also set to take over a stalled financial district project in Riyadh and to buy a stake in the King Abdullah Economic City north of Jeddah.