Overall I see this as a milestone in SA history. They are anticipating the death of the oil market. Many people think it's unwisw to play games with what is essentially their entire economy. But I guarantee if you knew what SB has planned, you would find it hard to see any other path forward
MBS is very smart and he has shown an appreciation for precedant in his nudging forward of social reform. I guarantee that he plans to cement his name in history by implementing another very large reform -- the transition of his countries economy from soley oil to no oil at all (in time). His goal is to create a kind of scandanavia of the middle East (economically, not culturally). I know this because I know that he knows that oil is as good as dead -- the transition to renewable energy is so far underway as to be undeniable. The interests of all the biggest economies except Russia align firmly with this transition. There is simply no future in oil and he knows it. The only move that would be characteristic of MBS and the country as a whole would be to rise to the challenge of this transition while maintaining the prosperity and prestige that they currently enjoy. And all of the above leaves little doubt about what they will try to do.
I should clarify. He will try to make SA a source of innovation, investment and so on like the United States, Germany, Sweden, Norway, estonia, and other such countries -- robust, diverse economies that are driven primarily by the high levels of education and training observed by their populations.
He will most probably fail, but somewhere in the middle so maybe still not a bad move long term.
Local population is lazy, and will remain lazy until they face poverty, which will be too late to maintain prosperity. The only solution that might work is to create some tax-haven for foreign companies with massive grants. Maybe.
There are many reasons to sell equity, but only one to buy. Now this doesn't mean only lemons are on the market, but generally proven businesses with a bright future aren't for sale unless at a very steep premium.
There are plenty of cases where very legitimate business need to sell stock to raise capital. But SA does not need capital. So looks to me like a way to extract additional wealth from the world before it becomes even more obvious that SA will fail when oil slowly becomes irrelevant.
