عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Saudi PIF Operating Profit Doubles, Assets Hit $1.21 Trillion

The Public Investment Fund Tower at King Abdullah Financial District. (PIF)
The Public Investment Fund Tower at King Abdullah Financial District. (PIF)
TT
TT

Saudi PIF Operating Profit Doubles, Assets Hit $1.21 Trillion

The Public Investment Fund Tower at King Abdullah Financial District. (PIF)
The Public Investment Fund Tower at King Abdullah Financial District. (PIF)

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has put its 2025 financial performance under the spotlight of global markets, publishing its audited consolidated financial statements on the London Stock Exchange in a move that reinforces its role as a driver of economic transformation and a global investor across continents.

The figures revealed an exceptional year for the fund. Net profit surged 152% to $17.36 billion, or 65.1 billion riyals, while total assets rose 5% to nearly $1.21 trillion, or 4.54 trillion riyals.

The jump was not simply the result of market swings. It reflected a flexible expansion strategy that balanced investment in future sectors, such as artificial intelligence through the launch of HUMAIN, with major domestic development projects, including Riyadh Expo 2030.

It also came alongside innovative green financing tools that strengthened foreign investor confidence in the fund’s financial position and long-term sustainability.

Operational efficiency drives record profit

The consolidated financial statements showed a sharp year-on-year improvement in profitability, mainly driven by stronger earnings from associates and a 9% drop in the fund’s administrative expenses. The decline pointed to higher operating efficiency and tight spending discipline.

Operating profit climbed to $20.8 billion, or 77.9 billion riyals, from $9.2 billion, or 34.6 billion riyals, in 2024, marking growth of more than 120%.

The gains were supported by a 9% increase in total revenue to $119.73 billion, or 449 billion riyals, from 413 billion riyals a year earlier, reflecting continued portfolio growth and stronger returns.

That performance fed directly into net profit for 2025, which jumped 152% to $17.36 billion, or 65.1 billion riyals, from 25.8 billion riyals in 2024. The result was more than double the previous year’s level.

The fund also maintained a high level of cash and cash equivalents, exceeding $93.33 billion, or more than 350 billion riyals, underscoring its ability to keep executing its investment strategy.

Asset growth and 2030 ambitions

The strong results come as the fund continues to expand its asset and investment base at speed. Assets have risen from about 720 billion riyals in 2017 to 4.54 trillion riyals, or $1.21 trillion, by the end of last year. The fund is targeting 10 trillion riyals by 2030, according to the Saudi Vision 2030 annual report.

The growth aligns with the fund’s new 2026-2030 strategy, announced at the start of this year. The strategy aims to shift from building strategic sectors to integrating economic ecosystems and accelerating growth. It places the private sector as a partner in creating value, not merely an implementer of projects, in line with the third phase of Vision 2030 and the push for deeper long-term investment partnerships.

PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the new strategy marked “a natural progression” from a phase of growth and expansion to a new phase focused on sustainable value, greater impact and higher investment efficiency.

He said the fund would transform the 13 strategic sectors in earlier plans into six integrated economic ecosystems built around companies with clear objectives. The focus would be on strengthening financial returns, maintaining investment efficiency, and continuously assessing the performance of investments and projects.

Under this vision, the fund’s investments are spread across three main portfolios: the Vision Portfolio, the Strategic Investments Portfolio and the Financial Investments Portfolio.

Backing future sectors

In future sectors, the fund moved in 2025 to accelerate artificial intelligence and advanced technologies through the launch of HUMAIN. The company invests across the AI value chain, including infrastructure, data centers, cloud capabilities, advanced models and applications.

To deepen that push, the fund signed a non-binding term sheet with Saudi Aramco under which Aramco would acquire a significant minority stake in HUMAIN, while PIF would retain the majority stake. The aim is to combine key assets and expand the company’s technical capabilities.

In future mobility and sustainability, Lucid Group, majority-owned by the fund, reported a 55% year-on-year rise in vehicle deliveries to 15,841 vehicles in 2025. The increase coincided with the launch of the Driving Force program in partnership with Formula E to expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, with a target of reaching more than 50,000 students in Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Kingdom by the end of 2025.

Tourism and entertainment gain pace

On the domestic development front, the fund accelerated support for major local development and tourism projects while strengthening the wider economic ecosystem.

It launched Riyadh Expo 2030 Company to develop and operate the facilities of the first World Expo to be hosted by Saudi Arabia and to invest in those facilities over the long term. The project is expected to support sustainable tourism, create new opportunities for the private sector and boost its contribution to gross domestic product during construction, operation and beyond.

The year also brought major milestones in entertainment and luxury tourism. Qiddiya City announced the opening of the first Six Flags theme park outside North America, creating a distinctive destination in the kingdom. Red Sea Global also announced the official opening of AMAALA, its luxury coastal destination.

Alongside these major construction and development projects, the financial statements showed that the fund’s investment properties rose to $21.46 billion from $17.46 billion in 2024.

Green financing enters a new phase

The fund’s investment securities, valued at $576.4 billion, show a disciplined approach to diversifying risk by geography and currency to secure sustainable returns.

The Middle East and North Africa remained the largest exposure at $344.2 billion, followed by North American markets at $145.9 billion, European markets at $44.7 billion and Asian markets at $41.6 billion.

To support capital markets, the fund signed memorandums of understanding with global financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Franklin Templeton, to develop innovative investment strategies focused on the region.

In financing, the fund marked a new milestone with its first euro-denominated green bond issue, worth 1.65 billion euros. Demand was strong, with orders exceeding the amount offered by more than six times. The fund also launched its first commercial paper program as a short-term financing channel.

Private sector and local content

As part of its commitment to the domestic economy, the fund held the third edition of the PIF Private Sector Forum, bringing together portfolio companies and government entities to review opportunities in major projects.

The fund’s initiatives also continued to support localization, develop local suppliers and increase the private sector’s share in emerging projects. The aim is to ensure that the fund’s historic financial growth feeds directly into the structure of Saudi Arabia’s broader, more sustainable economy in the years ahead.

 

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

What Do Saudi SMEs Need to Grow?

What Do Saudi SMEs Need to Grow?
TT
TT

What Do Saudi SMEs Need to Grow?

What Do Saudi SMEs Need to Grow?

Financing alone is no longer enough to propel Saudi Arabia’s small and medium-sized enterprises into their next phase of growth, as their needs increasingly extend to accessing markets and contracts, securing operating liquidity, reducing business costs and boosting productivity, competitiveness and their ability to expand.

Financing available to the sector has nevertheless continued to grow. Cumulative credit facilities extended to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises reached about SAR 467 billion ($124.5 billion) by the end of 2025, up 33% year on year.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s National Strategy for Entrepreneurship and SMEs is seeking to address challenges beyond the financing gap by improving access to markets, procurement and supply chains, reducing the cost of doing business and strengthening companies’ capacity for sustainable growth.

In the latest financing initiative, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, known as Monsha’at, signed a cooperation agreement with STC Bank in September 2026 for a financing portfolio of up to SAR 5 billion ($1.33 billion) for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The portfolio includes short-, medium- and long-term facilities covering working capital, operating needs, purchases of assets and equipment, and financing for contracts, projects and supply chains.

Businesses also require more than long-term financing. The Social Development Bank’s Working Capital product offers financing ranging from SAR 150,000 ($40,000) to SAR 10 million ($2.67 million), with repayment periods of up to 12 months, to cover day-to-day operating costs and strengthen cash-flow management.

The bank distinguishes between working-capital financing for operating costs and capital-expansion financing for assets and expansion.

From financing to growth

Rayan bin Ibrahim Alfayez, Monsha’at’s deputy governor for enterprise services, said the 13 initiatives under the National Strategy for Entrepreneurship and SMEs are designed to directly address priority challenges facing business growth and create a more efficient environment that supports expansion and sustainability while strengthening competitiveness in the coming period.

Alfayez explained that one initiative aimed at expanding opportunities for businesses focuses on empowering SMEs and startups in industrial cities and special economic zones. It seeks to help them capitalize on opportunities available in those areas and provide support and incentives suited to the nature of their businesses, supporting their growth and strengthening their presence in industrial and economic activities and value chains.

He added that the strategy also includes an initiative to increase SMEs’ share of procurement by large companies, broadening their access to opportunities and contracts, strengthening their participation in supply chains and helping build sustainable commercial relationships that support business growth and expansion.

Alfayez noted that another initiative aimed at reducing the cost of doing business addresses one of the challenges affecting enterprise growth by examining fees and requirements in coordination with the relevant authorities and developing mechanisms to support fees based on carefully considered criteria. The initiative is intended to ease the financial burdens associated with doing business and create a more favorable environment for companies’ growth and sustainability.

He said the initiatives work together to address a range of factors linked to business growth, from the operating environment to opportunities, markets and value chains, strengthening SMEs’ ability to grow and expand while increasing their competitiveness and contribution to the national economy.

Markets after financing

Financial and economic adviser Hussein Al-Attas told Asharq Al-Awsat that the increase in financing directed toward SMEs reflected clear progress in Saudi Arabia’s financing ecosystem, but the challenge was no longer financing alone. Rather, it was an enterprise’s ability to turn that financing into sustainable growth.

Al-Attas explained that an enterprise needs three interconnected elements: appropriate financing, access to markets, and operational and competitive capacity.

He said a company may secure financing, but in the next stage it needs contracts and sales opportunities that allow it to increase revenue, alongside managerial and technological development to boost productivity and the ability to manage cash flows and expand without allowing growth to become a financial burden.

Al-Attas added that access to markets and contracts represents the link most closely associated with an enterprise’s transition from survival to growth. Financing gives a business the capacity to act, while contracts and markets turn that capacity into revenue and cash flow.

He further stated that greater SME participation in government procurement and the supply chains of large companies, along with opening export channels, could have a direct impact on their ability to expand, alongside efforts to reduce the cost of doing business and raise productivity.

The next phase requires moving from the concept of “financing the enterprise” to “financing the enterprise’s growth,” he underlined, meaning that financing should be linked to markets, contracts, technology, productivity and expansion.

Strategy broadens its scope

The focus on markets forms part of the wider National Strategy for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, which includes 13 initiatives addressing sector challenges in access to markets and opportunities, financing, the business environment, innovation, data and expansion.

The strategy also aims to raise SMEs’ contribution to gross domestic product to 35% by 2030 and create more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Some initiatives seek to turn market access from a broad objective into direct contracting opportunities by qualifying enterprises and connecting them with the supply chains of large companies and projects.

This approach is reflected in Monsha’at’s Jadeer service, which aims to improve businesses’ readiness, qualify them to enter supply chains and enable them to benefit from procurement opportunities.

The equation for SME growth therefore does not stop at increasing available financing. It also depends on businesses’ ability to use that financing first to fund operations, then gain access to demand and contracts, improve productivity and reduce costs before moving into expansion and investment.

This reflects a shift from addressing the financing gap to addressing the growth gap: liquidity gives an enterprise the ability to continue operating and move forward, while access to markets and operational efficiency determine its ability to turn financing into revenue and sustainable growth.

Business

OECD Lifts 2026 Global Growth Forecast to 2.9% Despite Mideast War

OECD Lifts 2026 Global Growth Forecast to 2.9% Despite Mideast War
TT
TT

OECD Lifts 2026 Global Growth Forecast to 2.9% Despite Mideast War

OECD Lifts 2026 Global Growth Forecast to 2.9% Despite Mideast War

Economic growth has remained "resilient" in many countries despite the war in the Middle East, the OECD said Wednesday as it slightly raised its GDP forecasts for the year.

Global economic growth is now seen at 2.9 percent, a 0.1-point increase from estimates in June by the Paris-based group of 38 industrialized countries.

Even though energy prices have soared since the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran last February, the OECD noted that "broader financial conditions remain supportive", as seen in rising equity markets and continued access to credit.

"Sizeable oil inventories, additional supply from outside the Gulf economies and discretionary government support measures all helped to cushion the impact on the global economy," the group said in its quarterly update.

It also cited the massive investments in artificial intelligence and the resulting boost to production and trade, which could result in "stronger growth than projected".

But global growth has slowed sharply from the 3.4 percent chalked up last year, and the group trimmed its 2027 growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point, to three percent.

Governments have started raising interest rates to contain inflation pressures stemming from high oil and gas prices, which have sent diesel and other fuel costs to highs not seen in years.

That has sent government bond yields to levels not seen since the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, pushing up borrowing costs even as countries worldwide grapple with high debt and deficits.

"Rising bond yields underline more than ever the need for enhanced efforts to contain and reallocate government spending, improve public-sector efficiency and strengthen revenues to ensure longer-term debt sustainability and maintain the ability of governments to react to significant shocks," the OECD said.

It also warned of prolonged inflation if the Mideast war continues, with price increases in the G20 group of developing and emerging economies seen at 4.1 percent overall this year.

"Other significant downside risks include potential weather-related supply shocks, including a very strong El Nino, that adversely impact agricultural production and add to rising food price pressures," AFP quoted it as saying.

For the United States, it expects GDP to expand 2.2 percent this year, up 0.2 points from its June forecast, while the eurozone could see growth of one percent, also up 0.2 points.

Japan's growth is now seen at 0.8 percent, up 0.2 points, while the forecast for the Chinese economy, the world's second largest, was held steady at 4.5 percent.

For the G20, the OECD sees growth of 3.1 percent.

Business

IMF: Egypt Absorbs Economic Shocks of War

A man walks past a traditional sidewalk kiosk in Cairo on September 18, 2026 (AFP)
A man walks past a traditional sidewalk kiosk in Cairo on September 18, 2026 (AFP)
TT
TT

IMF: Egypt Absorbs Economic Shocks of War

A man walks past a traditional sidewalk kiosk in Cairo on September 18, 2026 (AFP)
A man walks past a traditional sidewalk kiosk in Cairo on September 18, 2026 (AFP)

Egypt has weathered one of the region's largest recent economic shocks without a broader downturn, benefiting from improved international reserves, exchange rate flexibility, and a swift policy response.

However, the economy’s ability to remain resilient will continue to depend on addressing chronic weaknesses, including high public debt, large financing needs, the banking sector’s elevated exposure to the government, and the expanding role of the state in economic activity.

The findings were published in a country focus prepared by Amine Mati, IMF’s mission chief for Egypt, and Yevgeniya Korniyenko, a senior economist at the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department.

Entitled ‘Resilience Under Pressure: Egypt's Economy Defied Expectations,’ the two economists found that policy reforms undertaken under the IMF-supported program had strengthened growth, put inflation on a downward path, and helped rebuild international reserves and improve banks’ foreign asset positions.

Also, the IMF’s latest assessments indicate that gross financing needs are expected to remain around 40% of GDP in the near term and decline only gradually to below 30% by 2030. More broadly, the state footprint in the economy remains excessively high.

Economy Absorbs Shocks

According to the IMF, Egypt entered the latest period of regional conflict in a stronger macroeconomic position than during previous episodes of external stress.

The Fund said policy reforms undertaken under its-supported program had strengthened growth, put inflation on a downward path, and helped rebuild international reserves and improve banks’ foreign asset positions.

Also, the Fund noted that financial markets reacted sharply.

“Nonresident holdings of local-currency government debt fell from $39.1 billion in February to $22.2 billion in early April, while the Egyptian pound depreciated by about 14–17%,” it wrote.

As pressures eased, portfolio inflows resumed, non-resident holdings returned to near pre-conflict levels, and the pound recovered much of its initial losses.

The IMF linked this performance to the fact that exchange rate flexibility absorbed external pressures, while energy price adjustments in the wake of higher international oil prices, spending restraint, and expanded targeted support helped preserve policy discipline.

Non-Stop Growth

In its country focus, the IMF found that the financial shock in Egypt did not spill over into a broader economic downturn.

“Growth remained strong, reaching 5.0% in the third quarter of FY2025/26, while tourism stayed resilient, remittances surged to record highs, and Suez Canal activity continued its gradual recovery following some temporary disruption amid the regional turmoil,” it wrote.

Also, fiscal pressures were contained through revenue mobilization and expenditure restraint.

As for inflation, it rose in response to the currency depreciation and energy price adjustments, but the increase proved less severe than expected, although the path back to the inflation target was pushed back by a year.

Crucially, the IMF said, international reserves remained comfortably above adequate levels despite initial capital outflows, reflecting exchange rate flexibility in absorbing external pressures—a key difference from past episodes.

Gross Financing Needs Still High

The latest shock demonstrated Egypt’s improved resilience, but significant vulnerabilities remain, the IMF found.

It said public debt and gross financing needs are still high, financing relies heavily on short maturities, and banks’ exposure to the government remains elevated.

The fund warned that these vulnerabilities—particularly amid heightened global uncertainty—leave Egypt exposed to shifts in global financing conditions and renewed external shocks, while reinforcing the sovereign-bank nexus and increasing the risk of fiscal dominance.

Large government financing needs can also crowd out private sector credit and investment, it said.

The report found that reducing public debt and high gross financing needs will require stronger debt management, with a shift toward longer-term, market-based financing, a broader investor base, and deeper domestic debt markets to reduce refinancing risks and strengthen debt sustainability.

Most importantly, it said, “more decisive implementation of the State Ownership Policy and divestment program, stronger governance of state-owned enterprises, and greater competition will be critical to reducing the state’s footprint and creating the conditions for stronger private sector led growth.”