One of the key countries that have suffered huge economic losses due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since its economy is mainly dependent on oil and the hajj and umrah tourism in Mecca, we can confidently say that the Kingdom is suffering through a rough patch of economic turmoil.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the $300 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has acquired stakes totaling to approximately $7.7 billion worth of shares.
The PIF bought stakes in Facebook, Starbucks, Boeing, Citigroup, The Walt Disney Co., as well as other large US public companies. The PIF bought more than 5 million shares in Disney, worth nearly $500 million, and more than 3 million shares in Facebook for $520 million.
PIF is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, founded mainly to invest funds on behalf of the Saudi Government.
So far, the Saudi government has announced 52,016 cases of coronavirus in the country.