Saudi Arabia taps Islamic banking to shore up mega-project financing
Saudi Arabia has borrowed $7bn through Islamic loans as it looks to shore up financing to press ahead with costly mega-projects designed to diversify the kingdom’s economy from relying on energy revenue.
The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, or PIF, announced on Monday that it raised $7bn through “Murabaha” loans supported by a syndicate of 20 international and regional financial institutions.
Murabaha is a type of Islamic financing mechanism in which the interest on a loan is already built into the final price paid by the borrower to avoid the payment of interest, which is barred by Islamic law. Investment in sectors such as alcohol, pornography and gambling are prohibited.
Separately, Bloomberg reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia sold $12bn worth of additional bonds.
The burst in financing comes as some of Saudi Arabia’s most high-profile projects are plagued by uncertainty, with some being downsized.
In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that the chief executive of the futuristic city abruptly left his role, along with several other executives who mocked Islam and fought with at least one employee.
Neom is the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to wean the kingdom’s economy off oil revenue. PIF, which is chaired by the crown prince, is the main vehicle for investing in projects. Saudi Arabia faces renewed urgency to complete its programme as it prepares to host the 2034 World Cup.
Saudi Arabia is still dependent on oil revenue to fund its economic makeover. The International Monetary Fund estimates that Saudi Arabia needs oil prices at $96 per barrel to balance its budget, roughly $20 more than where it currently stands.
The kingdom has also reoriented its spending from overseas into its domestic market. One sign of this was that in 2024, the UAE’s Mubadala surpassed PIF as the world’s most active sovereign wealth fund in 2024, with PIF’s spending dropping by 37 percent to $19.9bn in 2024 from $31.6bn the previous year, according to a report by the research consultancy firm, Global SWF.
Although Saudi Arabia has seen little direct foreign investment in its projects, international investors have shown a healthy appetite for Saudi debt.
According to Bloomberg, “investor bids for the $12bn bond exceeded $30bn”, and Saudi Arabia sold $17bn of international bonds in 2024, making it second only to Romania among emerging markets.