The Public Investment Fund is still committed to its international investments, even as the regional war shows no signs it will be resolved any time soon. This was the message Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan reiterated during the Future Investment Initiative event in Miami, the annual invitation-only event that gathered Saudi capital and Wall Street heavyweights over the weekend.

Patience is a virtue: “We measure our returns not in quarters but in decades, and the PIF remains committed to its investments around the world,” Al Rumayyan said. Saudi’s macroeconomic situation remains resilient, allowing it to weather temporary volatility due to the war, he added.

The message seemed to directly address concerns that the rising economic costs would push the sovereign fund to rethink its widespread international investments. Attacks on energy infrastructure are steadily escalating, and the Hormuz Strait is still effectively closed for the fifth week choking a vital corridor for oil and gas shipments. Pundits see the GCC’s wealth funds rerouting capital to their homeland to repair the damages, make up for the short-term hit to revenues, and shield their own citizens from the blow.

Global deals are still being closed: PIF’s Savvy Games is set to buy mobile game maker Moonton from TikTok maker ByteDance in USD 6 bn announced last week.

A look at the portfolio

The domestic pivot changed the calculus a while back: Most of the PIF's assets were held internationally over five years ago. However, the fund has undergone a massive strategic pivot, with some 80% now deployed domestically to drive non-oil economic growth and fund gigaprojects like Neom, Qiddiya, and Diriyah.

Still, the international portion of the portfolio remains significant — and highly diversified. The remaining 20% is held in global equities, infrastructure, technology, aerospace, and video game companies — including stakes in Uber, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, and Heathrow Airport.

A new strategy within “weeks”

The fund is gearing up to unveil its new five-year strategy in the upcoming weeks, Al Rumayyan said. The name of the game is attracting “third-party capital” from domestic and international investors to continue the work, after the PIF laid the foundations in previous phases, he argued.

ICYMI- A reset of the national privatization program in January set new ambitious targets for 2030, including increasing private capital investments to over USD 64 bn, signing more than 220 public-private partnership contracts, and boosting the private sector’s share of GDP to 65%, up from the current 40%.

The fund is reportedly set to refine its 2026-2030 investment playbook by concentrating capital on a tighter group of portfolio companies and scaling them into global champions across sectors. The idea is to pivot away from real estate gigaprojects to refocus on sectors that can deliver faster, more sustainable returns like logistics, mineral development, religious tourism, and AI, while maintaining investment in oil, petrochemicals, and renewables to power the transition.

It was necessary: Higher fiscal pressures — including lower oil prices, rising borrowing, and a widening deficit — were pushing the government to cut back on spending and prioritize time-sensitive projects and high-return sectors. That was back when oil prices were in the USD 60-70 / bbl range.

It’s still early to gauge how the war will change this calculus. Oil prices are already hovering close to the USD 115 mark, giving our budget a short-term relief. However, if the war goes on much longer, Saudi officials and analysts are concerned it could cause significant demand destruction and pressure oil revenues down.

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