Saudi Arabia signs off $6.6bn funding for infrastructure projects

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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance has signed financing agreements with several local banks worth SAR 25 billion ($6.6 billion) to implement infrastructure projects

The National Debt Management Center arranged the agreements, the ministry said in a statement.

The infrastructure projects are scheduled to start in 2023 and 2024.

In August, Saad Al-Shahrani, acting deputy minister for investment promotion in the Ministry of Investment, said that the kingdom has passed over 600 economic reforms designed to attract SAR 12.4 trillion of cumulative investment and SAR 1.8 trillion in foreign direct investment inflows between 2021 and 2030.

Saudi Arabia was last week described as the biggest construction site the world has ever seen as projects valued at over $1.1 trillion are underway in the kingdom.

That’s the total value of real estate and infrastructure projects since the launch of Saudi Arabia’s National Transformation Plan in 2016, according to global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

Faisal Durrani, partner – head of Middle East Research said: “A bold new vision is unfolding in Saudi Arabia. The phenomenal transformation taking place in the world’s fastest growing economy is clearly visible across the entire urban landscape.

“With over 555,000 residential units, more than 275,000 hotel keys, in excess of 4.3 million sq m of retail space and over 6.1 million sq m of new office space expected by 2030, the planned construction in the kingdom will easily make Saudi Arabia the largest construction site the world has ever known.”