‘Business Week’ carries this AP story about how the global financial meltdown is affecting Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States. Interesting.

Credit crunch hitting Saudi Arabia
TAREK EL-TABLAWY

The Gulf Arab nations’ vast oil wealth has not fully insulated them from the global financial crisis as new data shows bank lending to the Saudi Arabian private sector recorded its lowest monthly rise in at least a year and growth in the country’s money supply fanned inflation fears.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency underscored in its latest monthly report that the Arab world’s largest economy is starting to feel the pinch from the global liquidity crisis that has ravaged Wall Street, prompted the U.S. government to approve a massive $700 billion bailout of troubled institutions and pressured European nations to eye similar measures.

Money supply growth in Saudi Arabia rose to 21.8 percent in August from 20.85 percent the previous month, with M3 — the broadest measure of money circulating in the economy — reaching 885.77 billion Saudi riyals ($236.2 billion). That compared to 727.15 billion Saudi riyals a year earlier, the agency said in the report.
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Arab News reports on how the Saudi stock market (Tadawul) is reacting:

Financial crisis pummels stocks

Saudi Gazette focuses on the Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI): TASI dives almost 10%