Middle East Business news related to travel, food, hotel, real estate, health, o 

Middle East Business news related to travel, food, hotel, real estate, health, o

stock investing

While half of Saudi Arabia's 17 million nationals have been counting their losses following the stock market's crash earlier this year after a spectacular rise in 2005. others only hope for more largesse from a state awash with cash thanks to record oil prices.
While soaring oil prices have given the world's biggest oil exporter record revenues. many Saudis still find themselves living on the margin despite promises of reform and a more equitable distribution of wealth.
Migbil says he moved to this scrubland six months ago because of rising rents in the city's formal neighbourhoods. putting a strain on the 2.000 riyals ($533) he earns a month as a driver for the Ministry of Agriculture.
'There's no water so I go around mosques or shops to take from their taps. and running the air cooler needs too much water in summer so I've sent the children to relatives. embarrassed to entertain guests in such meagre surroundings.
As he speaks. the engineer who installed the generator-powered air cooler passes by to check on the progress of the rickety contraption. 'I put 50.000 riyals in the stock market.' the visitor confesses. 'but now it's all gone.'
'What do I want with the bourse?' responds an incredulous Migbil. who has to provide for six children including a hospitalised daughter with kidney trouble.
Before he ascended the throne last year. King Abdullah had warned of the threat of growing poverty and unemployment while visiting a poor district in 2002.
But there are still no statistics on how many Saudis actually struggle to make ends meet and the topic remains taboo in a kingdom fabled for its tremendous wealth.
'There is a problem of figures. Maybe there's been a slight fall in the number of poor. but we must remember that five years ago no one even wanted to recognise this issue.' said Turki Fadak. an analyst with the Saudi Economic Association.
Though the rise in world oil prices has offered a certain reprieve. the authorities still fear that an underclass who perceive they are left out of the kingdom's development drive could provide recruits for al Qaeda. which launched a violent campaign to topple the monarchy in 2003.
Last month. whom Forbes magazine says is worth $21 billion. promised cheap housing. He also cut fuel prices. in a move which drew praise from the underclass and confirmed the political sway the question of poverty now carries.
'The rich don't feel it. but for the poor this fuel cut really makes a difference. It was a great idea and I thank him (the king) for it.' says Hussein al-Walda. another squatter in Nadhim. sitting cross-legged in a makeshift tent.Like Migbil. he says the stock market means nothing to him.-Reuters