‘Saudi First’: Why kingdom’s bailouts of allies now carry a price tag
May 15, 2023
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-Abu Nayef remembers a time when, if an Arab country was in trouble, they knew whom to call right away.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” says the 60-year-old date farmer. “When any Arab or Muslim state needed financial help, we were always there to fill that need.”
But in 2023, that role has taken on a more self-interested, transactional edge.
Today Saudi Arabia is replacing its policy of providing unconditional cash aid to allies with targeted investments instead. It’s part of a “Saudi First” foreign policy that puts the interests of the kingdom and its citizens ahead of the geopolitical and domestic interests of its allies – whether they be the United States or fellow Arab countries.
“Investments and economic deals are the way forward,” Abu Nayef says. “Brothers are brothers and business is business. If we give out billions, we as Saudis want to see some return at the end. It’s unfortunate, but economic growth is what drives the world today.”
While the new approach makes good financial sense, it represents a fundamental cultural shift for Saudi leadership and a change in the way the country sees its role in the region.
And if many newly tax-paying Saudis welcome the move to ensure that their taxes go to ventures that benefit the country’s economy, others remain nostalgic for the days that the kingdom was everyone’s “big brother.”