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Saudi Arabia announced that it would bid to host the 2034 Fifa World Cup, soon after football’s world governing body had set out the timetable for the process. It faces a rival bid from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Official statements from the Gulf monarchies have called for de-escalation and international mediation between Hamas and Israel, but there have been notable differences in where blame has been apportioned.

Saudi Arabia is planning to hold a naval exercise with its counterparts in the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) Navy. Exercise Blue Sword is scheduled to take place during October in Zhanjiang, where China’s South Sea Fleet is headquartered.  

Two Saudi state-owned bodies, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), launched a new electric vehicle (EV) charging company on 8 October, in which ownership is split 75/25 in the PIF’s favour.

Saudi Arabia's government has said its budget will slip into deficit this year, amid a fall in economic activity which is largely due to the voluntary limits the country has placed on its oil production. The budget deficits are expected to continue for the three following years.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud returned to Riyadh, after over a month in the northwest city of Neom. In that time, he chaired several weekly cabinet meetings. 

A Saudi royal order was issued to create the Imam Faisal Bin Turki Royal Reserve – the eight such reserve established in the country to date. The protected area covers territory in the provinces of Asir, Jazan and Mecca and extends into Saudi territorial waters in the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would extend its 1m b/d production cut until the end of the year – backed by Opec+ partner Russia’s commitment to extend its 300,000 b/d export cut – moved the price of marker Brent crude back above $90/bbl for the first time since November 2022.

A normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia appears to be closer than ever – even though most commentators had long assumed it could not happen while King Salman Bin Abdelaziz was alive. Riyadh seems intent on extracting far more concessions in any deal than the UAE or Bahrain managed with their Abraham Accords, but it remains to be seen if all sides will be able to find a workable compromise.

Global and regional powers have drawn up a series of plans to develop new trade corridors through Gulf countries over recent years, with the latest emerging at the G20 summit in India which will pass through the UAE, Saudi Arabia and on to Jordan and Israel. The ambitious plan could take decades to realise and will face competition from rival schemes backed by Iran, Iraq, Russia and Turkey. 

A meeting of the Unesco World Heritage Committee, held in Riyadh, caused a diplomatic stir when it voted to include the pre-historic site of Tell Es Sultan near Jericho as a World Heritage Site in Palestine. Israel objected to the decision. 

Saudi Aramco said it was buying a minority stake in liquefied natural gas (LNG) company MidOcean Energy for $500m, with an option to buy more shares in the future. It is the Saudi giant’s first international LNG investment. 

There was speculation that during his five-day private visit to Oman, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) may have crossed the border into Yemen. 

With the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and other state-owned bodies driving many developments in the Saudi economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s annual Article IV consultation places the development of a Sovereign Asset-Liability Management (Salm) framework as "a high priority to support fiscal sustainability".  

Recent data give some grounds for optimism that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s bets on stimulating non-oil growth and liberalising society is yielding dividends, but an IMF report and other recent analysis show just how much further the country needs to go to end its dependency on oil and gas revenues.