Saudi Arabia’s mammoth sovereign wealth fund saw a major decline in investments in its so-called gigaprojects, amounting to an $8 billion write-down at the end of 2024 — despite assets under management reaching nearly $1 trillion, according to its annual report.
Gigaproject investments declined by 12.4% to 211 billion Saudi riyal ($56.2 billion). Meanwhile, assets overseen by the PIF climbed 19% from the end of 2023 to around $913 billion, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing sovereign wealth funds on the planet. The gigaprojects, which include the futuristic $500 billion Neom development, constituted 6% of the PIF’s assets in 2024, down from 8% the year prior.
The write-down comes amid lower global oil prices and a growing fiscal deficit for the Saudi kingdom, whose economy depends heavily on crude despite efforts to diversify it and substantial nonoil revenue growth.
The PIF’s annualized returns since 2017 dropped to 7.2% from 8.7% the previous year. The fund — which has significant holdings in a range of blue-chip companies like Uber
and Tesla
