#Saudi business feels ‘pain’ of the crown prince’s reforms | Financial Times

Saudi business feels ‘pain’ of the crown prince’s reforms | Financial Times:

Among a network of alleyways and cobbled streets in Jeddah’s old town more than 20 stores are firmly shuttered, “for rent” signs plastered on large wooden doors. Traders in adjacent shops, selling everything from abayas to mattresses, Chinese watches, perfumes and spices, lament plummeting sales, the exodus of more than 1.7m foreigners and rising costs driven by government policies.

Across town, a Saudi lawyer echoes the pessimistic tones — their office has been involved in the closure of more than 50 businesses over the past 18 months. “It’s mainly cash, it’s not the viability of the business, it’s [a shortage of revenue],” says the lawyer, who like many people interviewed asks not to be named for fear of falling foul of the regime. “[Closures have] gone up over the past year.”

Yet in a sand-blown industrial park on the other side of the Saudi Arabian city — where camel and sheep markets meet modern manufacturing — Sami al-Safran, chief executive of Mepco, one of the region’s biggest paper producers, is unwaveringly upbeat.