Saudi Arabia’s PIF targets $2 trillion portfolio by 2030

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is targeting to increase its portfolio of assets to $2 trillion (Dh7.3tn) by 2030 as it aggressively invests in both domestic and international markets.

“Today we are short of $300bn in assets under management. The number would be $400bn by 2020 and we are targeting for the fund to be the size of $2tn in 2030,” Yasir al-Rumayyan, the managing director of PIF told delegates at the Future Investment Summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The fund, which has historically invested in the domestic market on behalf of the Saudi government, has expanded its international investments to 10 per cent of its total asset base in four years, up from about 1 per cent.

PIF, which holds stakes in the US ride hailing company Uber and electric car makers Tesla and Lucid, in the medium-term would like to achieve 25 and 75 per cent balance between international and domestic, respectively, and by 2030 aims to have a 50-50 split between the two, he said.

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“That doesn’t mean that we are scaling down our domestic investments ... we are growing,” Mr al-Rumayyan said. “We will have a lot of new investments domestically and a lot internationally.”

PIF, which is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation agenda, is mandated to invest and grow local industries while at the same time invest abroad in assets to generate returns for Riyadh, which seeks to generate alternative revenue lines in the wake of the three-year oil price slump.

In the domestic market, PIF holds stakes in some of the region’s biggest companies and financial institutions including Sabic, the top petrochemicals producer in the Middle East; mining giant Ma'aden and the kingdom’s largest telecommunications operator STC. It also owns stakes in National Commercial Bank and Samba Financial Group, two of the biggest lenders in the country.

PIF is a cornerstone investor in SoftBank Group’s $93bn Vision Fund with a $45 billion contribution, and Mr al-Rumayyan said it has invested in about 50 to 60 companies through Softbank’s vehicle so far.

Most of these companies would come to the kingdom to help diversify the economy and generate employment, he said.

PIF will continue to invest in the technology sector, which can offer investment returns that are “very difficult to achieve in some of the conventional investments," Mr al-Rumayyan said.

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Anxiety and work stress major factors

Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.

A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.

Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.

One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.

It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."

Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.

“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.

“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."

Daniel Bardsley