Future Expenditure Initiative Institute to host a key event in Riyadh amid Covid-19 pandemic

The Future Expenditure Initiative Institute will host an integral conference this month in Riyadh to discuss some of the important issues affecting the global economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“There's never been a far more important period for leaders, investors and policy makers to come together to work at re-energising the global economy,” Yasir Al Rumayyan, chairman of the FII Institute and governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), said.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global, trade, travel and tourism industries to a halt and infections continue steadily to rise around the world. As of Fri, global infections surpassed 88.5 million with more than 1.9 million deaths, regarding to Worldometer, that tracks the pandemic.

The coronavirus cases are as well surging in the Middle East and the region passed a “grim milestone” of 5 million cases since the pandemic began early this past year, according to the Globe Health Organisation. The UK earlier this week started a third countrywide lockdown to support the spread of the pandemic.

A number of subject areas including sustainable investment, global monetary growth and the continuing future of healthcare, digitisation, education and culture will be discussed through the two working day event. Sessions may also address the rebirth of SMEs, and how investing in culture can make it an engine of expansion to support performers and museums and rectify long-standing gender inequalities.

The FII Institute, a recently established non-profit global foundation, will web host the conference on January 27 and 28 at the King Abdul Aziz International Meeting Center in Riyadh, with speakers and audiences joining physically and practically from New York, Paris, Beijing and Mumbai.

Saudi Arabia signed 24 investment deals worth $20 billion during the third edition into the future Investment Initiative in 2019.

The Public Expenditure Fund is injecting billions of dollars in to the economy to spur expansion. The fund will inject $40bn on an gross annual basis in 2021 and 2022, according to the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.