One-year dollar/Saudi riyal forwards jumped as high as 50.50 points, their highest level since the Arab Spring uprisings hit the Middle East in March 2011.
King Abdullah Economic City, the Kingdom’s mega project, is shifting focus to become a local tourism hub from its initial plans of being a financial centre.
The toughening of rhetoric about Iraq by the Gulf’s two top powers suggested that they have put on hold plans to explore a curbing of their rivalry across the region’s Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian divide.
The minister urged nations racked by violence to meet the “legitimate demands of the people and to achieve national reconciliation (without) foreign interference or outside agendas”.
Saudi health sources and international virologists have highlighted poor communication, lack of accountability and inadequate state oversight in the Kingdom.