Saudi Arabia

Following Saudi Arabia’s early exit from the World Cup, the kingdom’s soccer authorities may enter a period of introspection considering challenges that have cast a shadow over the post-2023 landscape of Saudi soccer.

The impact of the Iran war on the Saudi economy has been mitigated by investments in “economic resiliency,” including the East-West oil pipeline, relatively prudent fiscal policy, and the accumulation of a large stock of foreign financial assets.

Ports will be key focus areas of economic infrastructure buildout efforts as the region works to move beyond the Iran conflict.

Gulf national pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale seek to uphold local heritage amid regional and global instability.

The Saudi-Pakistani defense pact has been tested with the Iran war, as Pakistan seeks to maintain the fragile status quo in the neighborhood.

A misreading of the Belt and Road Initiative has prompted a regional scramble to develop economic corridors ahead of the more foundational development of integrated manufacturing and intraregional trade.

If the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran holds, the Saudi economy will grow strongly in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.

Saudi Arabia is eyeing the growth of a sovereign compute exchange model that, like OPEC for crude, would let it shape and stabilize long-term compute costs.