Why No One Wants To Invest Money In Saudi Arabia

Pictures of U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are projected on the front of the Ritz-Carlton, where Trump is staying in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 20, 2017.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Michael Hirsh, Business Insider/Foreign Policy: How Saudi Arabia became an investment wasteland

* Smart money has been moving out of Saudi Arabia.
* From 2016 to 2017, foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia plummeted by an astonishing 80%, from about $7.5 billion to about $1.4 billion, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
* For the most part both savvy outside investors and many Saudi businessmen no longer had faith in the kingdom, considering "the crown prince's authoritarian tendencies" and "capricious economic policy choices," Saudi economy expert Phillip Cornell told Foreign Policy.

Long before the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even as credulous Western boosters were promoting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a reformer and a visionary, the smart money was moving out of Saudi Arabia. And fast.

The reason? Mohammed bin Salman himself.

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