14.05.2015 - Saudis spend like there’s no oil price drop
If lower oil prices are straining Saudi Arabia’s economy, it certainly does not show. In Riyadh, dozens of cranes loom over the King Abdullah Financial District, destined to be the kingdom’s answer to Canary Wharf in London, with around 60 gleaming towers and its own monorail. Across the city, immigrant workers toil on new residential developments aimed at plugging the country’s acute housing gap. Meanwhile, roads are being dug up for a new metro system. It is quite a transformation for a place that started off as a mud-brick stopover on a desert trading route. With its glass-clad skyscrapers, spanking new universities, five-star hotels and outposts of western department stores like Harvey Nichols, Riyadh is transforming itself from a somewhat shabby city into a gleaming symbol of the kingdom’s oil wealth...........................................Full Article: Source
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