Comment on "How the Iran war is impacting GCC finances" (2)
We thank Alastair Newton for this comment on Wednesday's podcast.
An article in yesterday's edition of the FT by Ahmed Al Omran and Andy Bounds set out a lengthy list of events in Saudi Arabia which have been postponed or cancelled or are being reviewed as Riyadh's main airport remains closed and the security situation gives continuing cause for concern. Notably:
- 16 October: FIFAe soccer finals postponed sine die
- 24 October: EU/GCC summit postponed sine die
- 26-29 October: Saudi Arabia Future Investment Initiative "under review"
-18-21 November: PIF Golf tournament postponed sine die
- Late October: Six Kings tennis tournament postponed to late December
- November: F1 originally postponed from April now cancelled
- January 2027: Asian Cup soccer "under review".
Note too that the annual Misk Global Forum youth event (which is backed by MbS himself), the Red Sea International Film Festival and electronic music festival MDLBeast were cancelled some time ago.
The direct economic impact of these cancellations etc is almost certainly minimal but the potential longer-term damage to confidence in Saudi Arabia as an event host is surely worrying as is underlined by the decision of a number of senior executives from IOCs to pull out of a major energy conference in the Kingdom earlier this week even though the event went ahead.
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