A Saudi man walks past the logo of Vision 2030 in Jeddah (file). The growing diplomatic row over the disappearance of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is threatening to further complicate Saudi Arabia’s efforts to make its economy less dependent on oil, according to S&P Global Ratings. “This incident may have an impact on the politics of the country – it could either delay or dilute some decisions that would go toward diversifying the economy,” Joydeep Mukherji, S&P managing director of sovereign credit ratings for the Americas, said in a Bloomberg interview. There were already “considerable” economic challenges even before the incident as petroleum helped government
subsidise public services and gasoline, Mukherji said. “Even if you want to change the direction of an aircraft carrier, you can only change it very slowly,” he said.
Saudiaplan
