As new arrivals hurry through Riyadh’s airport, Ahmed hustles for customers, hoping to lure travellers into his saloon car. One of hundreds of thousands of Saudis who studied in the US on a government-funded programme, the 30-year-old mechanical engineering graduate has yet to find a job which he spent years training for. Instead, he makes an uncertain living, operating an illegal airport taxi, risking fines from the police. “The economy is bad, where are the jobs?” he says. “All my friends are cursing the government.”
His generation’s travails highlight the peril of reform for Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, just a few months ago, was hailed as a vibrant contrast to Saudi Arabia’s previous generations of gerontocracy. The powerful prince has spearheaded plans for economic diversification as the kingdom grapples with low oil prices. His vigour for bold reform was matched by his determination to check Iran’s regional influence by launching an air campaign against the Islamic republic’s proxies in the war in Yemen. But under the 31-year-old’s stewardship, the Middle East’s largest economy has plunged to the brink of its first non-oil sector recession for three decades. Unpaid government invoices have savaged business confidence; cuts to public sector workers’ benefits have hit consumer spending; and Saudi Arabia’s expensive intervention in Yemen has cost lives and triggered international opprobrium.