BUFFETTED BY POLITICAL CROSSWlNDS

Poor King Fahd, literally and metaphorically. The most recent estimates of Saudi Arabia's foreign reserves put them at no more than $40bn, a third of the level they reached ten years ago. Declining oil prices (in real terms) have taken their toll in the last decade and financial prudence has now obliged the government and state-owned companies to resort to borrowing from the kingdom's commercial banks.