By Yousef Saba and Federico Maccioni
RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia is preparing to shift its $925 billion sovereign wealth fund away from a focus on real estate gigaprojects that have dominated its development goals for the last decade, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Reuters.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, known as MbS, introduced his Vision 2030 plan in 2016 to transform the economy with a focus on large real estate projects.
The sovereign fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been the driving force for financing.
The original strategy included developments such as NEOM, a futuristic city in the desert by the Red Sea, and a plan to host international winter sports in the kingdom’s northern mountains, with ski slopes largely using manmade snow.
NEOM, with a projected population of 9 million, and other projects have faced repeated delays.
Driven by a determination to secure more sustainable near-term returns for PIF, the new strategy aims to narrow the focus to other existing developments, such as logistics, mineral exploitation and religious tourism, said the source, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The kingdom is also betting on investment in artificial intelligence, and data centres powered by its vast hydrocarbon and other energy resources, the source said.
PIF did not have an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters on the strategy shift.
(Writing by Andrew Mills and Maha El Dahan)
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