Saudi's $500 billion mega-city NEOM is attracting 'overwhelming' interest from investors

Over the years we've mentioned that one of the least stressful ways to increase the size of your net worth is to find a fire hose of money and stand next to it knowing that just being near the splashing can be worth as much as a lifetime of work in Tanzania's artisanal garnet mines.

So yeah, seeing the attraction of a half-trillion dollar flow we'll repeat the story, whether it turns out to be true or not.*

From CNBC:

• With ambitious plans to transform its economy as part of the crown prince's Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is hoping to boost foreign direct investment (FDI).
• It hopes ambitious mega projects like the futuristic city of NEOM will attract FDI.

With ambitious plans to transform its economy as part of the crown prince's Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is hoping to boost foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country as it embarks on a post-oil era and ambitious mega projects like the futuristic city of NEOM.

Ibrahim Al-Omar, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), said foreign direct investment (FDI) was growing in Saudi Arabia.

Official figures from the World Bank show FDI net inflows were $7.453 billion in 2016 while net outflows were $8.936 in the same year.

Since then, however, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has appeared to take the reigns on t/ransforming the economy and society by introducing a raft of liberalizing reforms. An anti-corruption purge led by the crown prince last year caused concern among some business leaders, but Al-Omar said foreign investment was now growing, but didn't give more detail.

"We have seen a growth for foreign investment — about 50 percent comparing the first quarter this year to the same period last year. Also, the (FDI) inflows we have seen about 40 percent," Al-Omar told CNBC's Hadley Gamble as she hosted a session on the Saudi Arabian FDI landscape at the Gateway Gulf investment forum in Bahrain...MORE 

*As noted in the outro from 2015's "Free Money In China":

...I am reminded of one of the stories of the gold rushes, this one I think happened in Colorado. The original rush was on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains. A miner, tired of the competition decided to spread a rumor that gold had been discovered on the other side of the Rockies and as the rumor spread it was embellished and more and more of those who were finding nothing in the Pikes Peak area decided to cross the mountains and try their luck.

Finally, the original rumor monger announced to his remaining friends that he was joining the migration further west. One of the friends pointed out that he had started the tale to which he replied: "I dunno, the way these guys are acting there must be something to it".

Human nature, it was ever thus.