To understand the scale of Gulf nations’ wealth, just consider this: If the United Arab Emirates sold its stash of foreign holdings, it could make every one of its roughly 1 million citizens a millionaire. Qataris would enjoy the same windfall. Saudi Arabia, with its larger population, wouldn’t hit a million dollars per citizen, but the share allotted to each one would still be close to the average annual income in the US—a hefty sum.
Of course, that leaves out the large share of those countries’ populations who aren’t citizens—not to mention that these states have no intention of simply dividing up and distributing their hoards. That’s not what the money is for: It’s for securing the future. The Gulf is awash in oil revenue. The value of daily crude exports in 2022 and 2023 topped $1 billion, leaving enough after paying for imports to fuel massive savings. But the world is transitioning away from oil and gas, and these nations need to diversify.
So they’re building up portfolios that have made them major forces on the global investment scene, with holdings that include American tech companies, English football clubs, Egyptian real estate, African mines and Turkish bank deposits. Four of the world’s top 10 sovereign wealth funds are from the region, those belonging to Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Gulf is close to becoming the only region with three separate wealth funds exceeding $1 trillion each. Asset managers, private equity partners and venture capitalists from New York, Silicon Valley and London pack the business-class cabins of Emirates and Etihad Airways A380s to pitch their services and ideas.
Money isn’t just an economic tool; it’s also a political weapon. The Gulf nations are using their petrodollar wealth to wield influence on the world stage—placing investments to further strategic goals. Turning hydrocarbons into geopolitical muscle isn’t new: The oil embargo in 1973, when Arab states stopped selling oil to countries supporting Israel, leading to a fourfold increase in the price of crude, is only the most famous example.
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