Shrinking Saudi middle class = long-term problem

'Shrinking Saudi middle class causes concern' says Gulf News.

The headline's a bit misleading for what's more of a feature/think-piece, but it should worry all those marketers and business people who are banking on an increasingly-prosperous KSA.

One of my working assumptions in recent years has generally been that Saudi Arabia can be relied on to be a) growing, b) growing at a reasonable clip thanks to its low starting-point, and c) growing despite most of the global turmoil, thanks to the oil revenues and the fundamental needs of 27-million-odd Saudis - the only market in the Gulf that's really real.

But if this is a faulty assumption...

Hmm.

Money, it's a hit

The Arabian Business Rich List is out again - and this time Anil Bhoyrul managed to get access to Prince Alwaleed's accounts. Must be a coincidence that this shock move into openness comes just after all those rumours about Alwaleed being broke due to the economic ruination. Surely.

So it turns out HRH is worth just over $17bn - and AB helpfully gives a breakdown of his holdings.

Oddly, the mag gets a little coy when it comes to how much cash Alwaleed has down the back of his many fine sofas: "We cannot disclose the exact amount as it is confidential, but have seen the verified total figure."

But thanks to the detailed info AB has on the rest of his empire, AdNation can exclusively reveal...

[scribbles on back of napkin]

Yep - according to AB's figures, Alwaleed appears to have roughly $2.614 billion in cash.

Loose change, really.

Now why would Alwaleed not want to reveal what seemingly anyone can easily work out...?