The Iran war is undermining Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify away from oil, while boosting the kingdom’s oil revenues.
Riyadh ordered government entities to freeze payments to strategy advisers, management consultants, and law firms, which were central to the kingdom’s efforts to reinvent its economy and become a global business and entertainment hub, Semafor reported.
The Esports World Cup was moved from Saudi Arabia to Paris because of the war, and the country’s sovereign wealth fund recently pulled out of LIV Golf.
But the conflict is delivering a fresh oil windfall for the kingdom.
Thanks to its ability to export via the Red Sea and rising oil prices, Saudi oil export revenues jumped to a more than three-year high in March.
