RIYADH: When food-tech entrepreneur Sara Amini wanted to see where Gulf businesses were still spending despite the Iran war, she flew to Riyadh.
In Saudi Arabia, she found restaurants full and companies still talking expansion, in contrast to other Gulf economies in Iran’s firing line where the hospitality and restaurant sector had taken a hit.
“When I come to Saudi Arabia I feel like it’s business as usual,” said Amini, who is based in Dubai and manages an artificial intelligence platform that helps food distribution companies digitize operations and cut costs.
Amini’s optimism is a sign that the country is weathering changes brought on by the war better than most others in the region, helped by a strong domestic consumer base and a rerouting of crude oil and logistics to ports on the Red Sea to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
On Wednesday, a survey showed Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector expanded at the fastest pace in three months in May as domestic demand improved and supply chains stabilized, even as business optimism remained subdued due to the conflict.
