Saudi Arabia's annual FII summit set to kick-off amid jittery markets and mounting debt worries

Global leaders, policymakers and finance bigwigs are descending on Riyadh for the event starting next week

The ninth agenda-setting Future Investment Initiative will welcome a line-up of more than 600 speakers from across the globe. AFP

The who's who of banking and finance, senior government officials, policymakers, global thought leaders and corporate bosses from across the globe are converging in Riyadh next week for the Future Investment Initiative.

The global agenda-setting annual showcase in the Saudi Arabian capital will explore this year’s theme of The Key To Prosperity: Unlocking New Frontiers Of Growth.

However, an improving yet uncertain economic outlook, the ever-present threat of geopolitical escalation, as well as frothy capital market shaking with AI bubble build-up and mounting piles of debt threatening the financial system, will give those in attendance plenty to ponder during the summit.

Yasir Al Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, speaks during a previous edition of Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. Reuters

Notable figures

The event, now in its ninth year will start on October 27. It will feature 20 heads of state and more than 600 speakers, including chief executives of global banks, entrepreneurs, politicians, corporate bosses and experts in artificial intelligence, energy and sustainability.

Asset managers and private equity bosses, with trillions of dollars under management, will also attend the event, which will feature more than 250 keynote addresses and panel discussions across various streams.

Yasir Al Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s almost $1 trillion Public Investment Fund, will deliver a keynote speech on Tuesday, followed by a special address by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organisation.

The changemakers' sessions on geonomics, public-private power brokers and the financial markets, will feature global banking heavyweights such as Citigroup chief executive Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs chairman David Solomon, Bill Winters, group chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, HSBC boss Georges Elhedery and Barclays group chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan. Minister of Investment Khalid Al Falih will also be speaking.

Tareq Al Sadhan, chief executive of Saudi National Bank, Karim Awad, group chief executive of the Arab world’s biggest investment bank EFG Hermes, and Tony Cripps, managing director of Saudi Awwal Bank are among regional lending powerhouses that will take the stage on Tuesday.

From the global wealth and investment management industry, Scott Nuttall, co-chief executive of KKR, Brookfield Asset Management head Bruce Flatt, Mubadala-backed Investcorp’s vice chairman Rishi Kapoor, Annabel Arthur from KKR, chairman of Global Infrastructure Partners Adebayo Ogunlesi, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and founder of Ark Invest Cathie Wood will be in attendance.

The top bosses of the financial world will be deliberating on global investment and policy landscape, in a bid to find solutions for sustained growth despite growing headwinds for the global economy, shifting trade and tariff policies and jittery global trade environment. They also have to address the so-called AI bubble that is shaking the foundations of capital markets as well as a worrying level of global debt that is threatening the global financial system.

Minister of Investment Khalid Al Falih is among the Saudi officials speaking at this year's event. Reuters

Setting the stage

The International Monetary Fund this month raised its global economic growth forecast for this year on milder-than-expected tariff increases and private sector resilience to tariff pressures.

Although the global economy has remained steady so far in the face of Trump administration's push to levy tariffs on its trading partners, a new degree of uncertainty now prevails in trade patterns.

“The global outlook as we see it is steady but fragile,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in the fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report.

The Washington-based multilateral lender expects global output to grow by 3.2 per cent in 2025 – up from its July forecast of 3 per cent – and 3.1 per cent in 2026, unchanged from its previous estimate.

Should the IMF forecasts hold up, it would still mark a decline from last year's annual growth rate of 3.3 per cent and remain below the pre-pandemic average of 3.7 per cent.

“Bottom line: not as bad as we feared, but worse than we anticipated a year ago and worse than we need,” Mr Gourinchas said at the time.

While the global economic scenario and its impact will be discussed at length, the shifting dynamics of the global energy will be debated by senior industry leaders, including Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser, chief executive of Engie Catherine MacGregor, and Patrick Pouyanne, chairman of TotalEnergies.

A contingent of UAE corporate leaders including Emaar Properties founder Mohamed Alabbar, Taqa group managing director Jasim Husain Thabet, Masdar chief executive Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Gems Education chief executive Dino Varkey, and Majid Al Futtaim Holding chief executive Ahmed Ismail, will also feature in discussions on various topics.