RETURN ON INVESTMENT

It is a truism upon which Saudis are being increasingly driven to reflect that money is not everything. Certainly a steady few hundred billion or so riyals a year coming in helps to widen the range of political possibilities but it does not automatically ensure a satisfactory solution of all political problems. And when the accustomed level of income begins to fall, by however small a proportion, feelings of hardship and frustration can soon develop. So far as the country's external affairs are concerned, this onset of austerity comes at a particularly difficult moment. Money is even less effective in solving foreign policy than domestic problems, as the Saudis are uniquely placed to know.