The IMF’s decision last week to revise Saudi Arabia’s GDP for this year down to 2% from its 3.1% forecast in April was probably inevitable given the widespread retrenchment currently underway in the kingdom.

Last week, it emerged that the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the engine behind Saudi Vision 2030, was replacing foreign CEOs with local hires as part of its strategy to tighten spending and shift its focus toward domestic projects.   The Financial Times, citing an advisor to the Saudi government, reported that the changes came after the fund conducted a review of all its portfolio companies, including how they will reallocate spending in the coming years.

Earlier this week, Semafor reported that NEOM’s budget for 2026 to 2030 includes 60 billion riyals ($16 billion) in anticipated payments to contractors to terminate long-term agreements.  That means, for a time, the Saudi government will spend more money on canceling parts of the futuristic desert city gigaproject than it will spend building them.

Read the full story at Fortune