Why #SaudiArabia needs dollars to kick its oil habit

Why Saudi Arabia needs dollars to kick its oil habit:

The major headline out of Saudi Arabia last month was that the country's big state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, bought 70 percent of the country's big state-owned petrochemical company, the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. ("Sabic," for short.) What's more, they carried out the purchase in U.S. dollars.

Off the top of your head, that might sound weird: What's the point of one government-owned entity buying another? And why use U.S. dollars, as opposed to the riyal, Saudi Arabia's own currency?

The answer, basically, is that Saudi Arabia's economy is addicted to oil, they need to kick the habit, and they need U.S. dollars to do it.