海角大神

Abu Nayef remembers a time when, if an Arab country was in trouble, they knew whom to call right away.

鈥淭he Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,鈥� says the 60-year-old date farmer. 鈥淲hen any Arab or Muslim state needed financial help, we were always there to fill that need.鈥�

But in 2023, that role has taken on a more self-interested, transactional edge.

Today Saudi Arabia is replacing its policy of providing unconditional cash aid to allies with targeted investments instead. It鈥檚 part of a 鈥淪audi First鈥� foreign policy that puts the interests of the kingdom and its citizens ahead of the geopolitical and domestic interests of its allies 鈥� whether they be the United States or fellow Arab countries.

鈥淚nvestments and economic deals are the way forward,鈥� Abu Nayef says. 鈥淏rothers are brothers and business is business. If we give out billions, we as Saudis want to see some return at the end. It鈥檚 unfortunate, but economic growth is what drives the world today.鈥�

While the new approach makes good financial sense, it represents a fundamental cultural shift for Saudi leadership and a change in the way the country sees its role in the region.

And if many newly tax-paying Saudis welcome the move to ensure that their taxes go to ventures that benefit the country鈥檚 economy, others remain nostalgic for the days that the kingdom was everyone鈥檚 鈥渂ig brother.鈥�

Shift in philanthropic philosophy

Since the extraction of its oil wealth blossomed in the 1960s and 鈥�70s, Saudi Arabia has played an almost paternal role as a financier and safety net for Arab and Muslim states.

Responding mostly to simple need, an often-forgiving Saudi Arabia has rushed in dozens of times to throw lifelines to crisis-hit allies, doling out billions with zero conditions and few questions.

In the past 12 years alone, the kingdom has given $3 billion to Jordan, $5 billion to Pakistan, and the bulk of the $92 billion in cash and oil that Egypt has received from Gulf countries since 2011.

Yet increasingly debt-riddled Arab governments, rife with corruption and structural issues they refused or failed to reform, kept coming back with the same need 鈥� unconditional financial aid. The Saudi billions didn鈥檛 even ensure friendly governments.

As Saudi Arabia began transforming its economy under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016, seeking to build a non-oil private sector from the ground up, it imposed taxes on its citizens for the first time in generations and undertook a deep rethink of its cash bailout policies.

Saudi officials started giving hints or private declarations to delegations coming to Riyadh hat-in-hand: The days of unconditional cash were over.

Instead, the kingdom has been offering to put money into tourism, ports, and banks 鈥� projects that would offer a return on investment.

In 2022, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that is the engine for the kingdom鈥檚 own transformation made $24 billion in investments and purchases in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, and Sudan.

Implementation of the Saudi philosophical shift was slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was formally announced this year. Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan outlined the new approach in January in a speech in Davos, Switzerland.

鈥淲e used to give direct grants and deposits without strings attached,鈥� Mr. Jadaan acknowledged. 鈥淎nd we are changing that. ... We need to see reforms鈥� before providing assistance.

鈥淲e are taxing our people; we are expecting also others to do the same, to do their efforts,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to help but we want you also to do your part.鈥�

Mansour Almarzoqi, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies in Riyadh, emphasizes that encouraging allies鈥� reforms is the goal.

鈥淭he idea behind the 鈥榥o free aid鈥� policy is to help those countries improve their institutional performance,鈥� he says.聽鈥淥ne way of encouraging countries to deal with their structural economic developmental problems is to say, 鈥榃e will help you, but in exchange, you need to tackle this problem, you cannot postpone it any longer.鈥欌��

Individual buy-in

In Riyadh, meanwhile, many individual Saudis say they have embraced Saudi First, which comes with an emerging 鈥減ull yourself up by your bootstraps鈥� mentality. As part of the crown prince鈥檚 Vision 2030, most Saudi citizens no longer receive generous state handouts and are instead encouraged to become entrepreneurs rather than expect a state job.

Improvements to daily life and the overhaul of the economy and infrastructure are noticeable, Saudis say, and they accept the trade-off of income tax and a 16% sales tax.

鈥淲e pay taxes, we are good citizens, and we want some of our tax dollars to help our allies,鈥� says Hamad, a Riyadh bank clerk. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 want to see it wasted by other countries鈥� bad policies and corruption. What does their government and deficiencies have to do with us?

鈥溾�楽audi First鈥� means that we can all develop and improve together as partners,鈥� Hamad says. 鈥淏ut when it comes to Saudi money, improving our country and realizing the crown prince鈥檚 vision is the priority.鈥�

Encouraged by the fast pace of reforms, government financial support for startups, and international companies opening up shop in the kingdom, many have seized this new entrepreneurial spirit with zeal and say their expectations of other Arab states too have evolved.

鈥淚f any person, Arab or otherwise, has a business idea, they can come to the kingdom, get an investor, get residency, open shop, be treated like full citizens with full benefits, can get rich, and keep their money and assets,鈥� says Mohammed, a logistics and cargo manager in Riyadh.

鈥淪audi Arabia is open for business to anyone without any discrimination,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut at the end of the day it is business. Saudi Arabia is not a charity anymore.鈥�

Regional impact

The change in Saudi policy is already visible in the region.

With Egypt facing inflation, growing debt, and a currency crisis, Saudi Arabia has balked at buying up Egyptian companies, including the planned acquisition of the United Bank of Egypt, over Cairo鈥檚 resistance to implementing International Monetary Fund reforms and steps for transparency in the military-dominated economy.

Jordan, meanwhile, seeking assistance to create jobs and alleviate its 20% unemployment rate, has shifted its approach and is offering Saudi Arabia detailed investment opportunities.

Nevertheless, many Saudis aren鈥檛 ready to part with the past. Among them is Salem, who, to keep pace with rising costs in the Saudi capital, works as an Uber driver on his daily commute to and from his office at an engineering firm.

鈥淭he idea that we are there to help out our Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters is part of our culture, part of our social traditions as tribes, and is encouraged by our religion, Islam,鈥� he says.

Saudi officials and citizens point out, meanwhile, that the kingdom鈥檚 large-scale humanitarian assistance has not stopped.

Saudi Arabia is still dispatching aid, including $100 million in earthquake relief for Syria and $100 million for war-torn Sudan. Last year the kingdom gave $5 billion to help Egypt weather wheat price shocks from the Ukraine war, $600 million to flood-hit Sudanese communities, and $1 billion to Yemen to stabilize its currency.

Um Fahed, a young woman who sells farm products from a stand in Riyadh, says this official humanitarian assistance and the hundreds of millions of dollars Saudi citizens donated via private charities to support Arab and Muslim communities are proof that the culture of generosity in the kingdom is alive and well.

鈥淲e still have empathetic hearts. We are still giving money and assistance to charitable causes and humanitarian relief,鈥� she says.聽鈥淏ut giving money to governments who keep making the same mistakes, keep refusing to reform and improve, and keep coming back to us and asking for more?

鈥淭hat is not charity,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat is being taken for a ride.鈥�