Saudi Arabia is slipping deeper into deficit spending mode amid slowing growth in revenue from international investment and cutbacks in oil production.

Finance Ministry figures released on Monday show the kingdom’s 2024 deficit growing by almost 50% to $32 billion from projections made last December and reaching 2.9% of GDP.

The forecast buttresses earlier government statements that some of the banner construction projects it plans will have to be slowed down because of revenue shortfalls.

Saudi Arabia is having trouble meeting its goals for foreign direct investment, which at $9.7 billion was roughly the same in the first six months of 2024 as in the same period last year.

The government has set a target of $100 billion in FDI annually by 2030, about three times more than its previous high.

Gulf airlines are pouring billions of dollars into building plush landmark airports and vying with each other to be recognized among the world’s top aviation hubs.

In the 2024 World Airport Awards by SkyTrax, Hamad International in Doha overtook Singapore’s Changi to take the top spot, while Dubai International jumped 10 spots to reach seventh place, Arabian Business reports.

Dubai International, the busiest airport in the world in 2023, was voted second-best for 70+ million passenger airports, bested by Tokyo Haneda. 

While the UAE and Qatar have led the regional aviation rivalry, Saudi Arabia is trying to make up for lost time after setting a national goal to attract 300 million air passengers by 2030, almost tripling current traffic.

Among the biggest Gulf airport projects currently under construction are the UAE’s Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman International Airport in Riyadh and Red Sea International Airport on the kingdom’s western coast, Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City and Oman’s Muscat International Airport.

Nuveen is the second trillion-dollar investment firm to open shop this month at Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Prior to Nuveen, which manages $1.2 trillion in assets, Prudential Financial’s PGIM, with $1.3 trillion under management, also opened an office in the UAE capital in September.

Nuveen CEO William Huffman told The National, that his firm, which holds the assets of the U.S. teachers’ pension fund TIAA, offers the Middle East market “forward-looking opportunities including infrastructure, renewable energy and real estate technology.”

He said that “based on our conversations with investors, we believe… our reputation … aligns closely with the needs of clients in the region.”

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed wrapped up his U.S. tour with a stop at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He also met with former President George W. Bush in Texas and held a phone conversation with former President Bill Clinton before flying home to Abu Dhabi.

The centerpiece of the U.S. visit was a visit to the White House at the beginning of the week after which the Emirati leader and President Joe Biden issued a 3,900-word joint statement outlining the relationship of the two countries as “dynamic strategic partners.”

Focused in large part on the U.S.-Emirati economic alliance, the statement took note of the $1.5 billion artificial intelligence investment deal between Microsoft and the UAE’s Group 42, as emblematic of the growing technology cooperation between the two countries.

The two leaders “underscored that this transformative partnership has the potential to usher in a new era of international connectivity to facilitate global trade, expand reliable access to electricity, facilitate clean energy distribution, and strengthen telecommunication,” the joint statement said.

Biden and Sheikh Mohammed “emphasized the importance of joint initiatives to promote a circular economy, reduce waste, facilitate recycling, and advance sustainable practices, underscoring their commitment to innovation for resource efficiency and environmentally responsible growth,” the statement said.

The statement also called attention to promising regional initiatives including the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that will seek to connect India to Europe with ship-to-rail connections through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Greece.

New Zealand and the UAE have reached a free-trade agreement after four months of negotiations.

The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will eliminate duties on as much as 99% of New Zealand’s exports to the Gulf state, according to Trade Minister Todd McClay.

“This will create new opportunities for New Zealand businesses in the dynamic UAE market, contributing to our ambitious target of doubling exports by value in 10 years,” McClay said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Trade between the two countries reached $814 million for the year ending June 2024, he said.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed emerged from the White House this week with a new security pact that recognizes the Gulf state as a “major U.S. defense partner.” The Emirati leader also met with top tech and finance leaders while he was in Washington to talk about the UAE’s AI ambitions.

During a meeting in the Oval office on Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden called the UAE “a nation of trailblazers… always looking to the future, always making big bets. And that’s something our countries have in common and our people have in common.”

On the following day, Sheikh Mohamed held serial meetings with MicrosoftCEO Satya Nadella, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Also present were senior members of the Royal Court and corporate executives, including Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Adviser and Chairman of AI development firm G42; Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala; Mohamed Alsuwaidi, Minister of Investment and CEO of ADQ; Edge Group Chairman Faisal Al Bannai and G42 CEO Peng Xiao.

Microsoft, meanwhile, announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its Global Engineering Development Center’s activities to the UAE, opening a new facility in Abu Dhabi that will be the company’s first engineering center in the Arab world.

Egypt is in advanced negotiations to sell its remaining 20% stake in Alex Bank to Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, marking the country’s first major asset sale since its currency devaluation in March, Bloomberg reports.

Intesa, which already owns 80% of the bank, will gain complete ownership through the agreement, a move that aligns with the Egyptian government’s plan to offer 32 assets across various sectors, including banking, energy, and real estate.

Egypt, the beneficiary of a $57 billion buyout led by the International Monetary Fund, is seeking as much as $2.5 billion in revenue from state asset sales by June 2025.

The UAE’s determination to become a world center for AI development is attracting new interest from Asia’s big chipmakers.

Taiwan’s TSMC and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics have discussed building large facilities to manufacture semiconductors in the UAE that could help propel the Gulf state to its goal of recognition as an artificial intelligence power, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Under initial terms being discussed, the projects would be funded by the UAE, with a central role for the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund and state-owned investment company MGX, which is focused on AI technology.

Amid the avalanche of interest in artificial intelligence, UAE-owned G42 has signed a variety of agreements with Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia over recent months.