Under a series of royal orders announced by the official Saudi Press Agency, Fahd Al-Saif was named investment minister, replacing veteran technocrat Khalid Al-Falih, who was moved to the role of minister of state and cabinet member. Other decrees installed new heads at the public prosecution, the National Development Fund, the communications regulator, the kingdom’s transport authority, and the domestic intelligence service.
New investment minister
Fahd Abduljalil Al-Saif, who currently heads the Public Investment Fund's (PIF) Investment Strategy and Economic Insights Division as well as its Global Capital Finance Division, has become the Minister of Investment. He previously built and ran the Finance Ministry’s National Debt Management Centre, where he helped Saudi Arabia establish an international borrowing programme and an investment‑grade credit profile.
He replaces Al-Falih, who had served as investment minister since the portfolio was carved out into a stand‑alone ministry in 2020. Al-Falih, a former Saudi Aramco chief executive and ex‑energy and health minister, is one of the kingdom’s most seasoned technocrats and will remain in the cabinet as minister of state.
The reshuffle comes as Riyadh seeks to accelerate foreign direct investment (FDI) and private‑sector activity, core metrics in Vision 2030. The kingdom aims to attract $100 billion in annual foreign direct investment by 2030. Although inflows have risen amid sweeping structural reforms designed to draw international capital, they remain below the government’s stated goals. In 2024, FDI reached 119.2 billion riyals ($32 billion).
National Development Fund's new governor
In a significant economic move, Abdulaziz Al-Arifi was appointed governor of the National Development Fund (NDF), which coordinates and oversees the kingdom’s sectoral development banks and funds.
Al-Arifi is a Stanford‑educated financier who has served as CEO of the Shareek programme, a flagship initiative designed to deepen partnerships between the state and major Saudi companies and mobilize up to 5 trillion riyals in private investment by 2030. He has also worked as assistant minister of transport, CEO of Jadwa Investment, and treasury director at the national shipping company Bahri, as well as an adviser in the cabinet’s General Secretariat.
He succeeds US economist Stephen Groff, who has led the NDF since 2019.
The fund’s mandate is to improve the performance and financial sustainability of development funds and banks, reduce overlaps, and ensure all their programmes are aligned with the diversification drive.
Enhancing efficiency toward end of Vision 2030
The reshuffle also brought significant changes across technology, transport, media, tourism, and the judiciary, reinforcing what officials described as an effort to “enhance efficiency” and sharpen execution as Vision 2030 enters its final phases.
In the technology sector, Haytham Al-Ohali, vice minister of communications and information technology since 2018, was appointed governor of the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST), Saudi Arabia’s converged telecoms and space regulator. An electrical engineer by training, Al-Ohali spent more than a decade at Cisco in Saudi Arabia, rising to managing director and working on public-private digital transformation initiatives before entering government.
CST plays a central role in regulating the kingdom’s rapidly expanding telecoms and digital infrastructure sector and has overseen the nationwide rollout of 5G networks, as well as pilot projects in satellite and non-terrestrial connectivity — pillars of Riyadh’s ambition to position Saudi Arabia as a regional digital hub.
In transport, engineer Fawaz Al-Sahli was appointed president of the Transport General Authority (TGA), which regulates land, rail, and maritime transport and is central to plans to transform the kingdom into a global logistics hub.
Al-Sahli previously served as vice-president for the regulatory sector at TGA and has represented Saudi Arabia at international transport forums, including the UITP Global Public Transport Summit. Royal decrees did not clarify how responsibilities would be redistributed from Rumaih Al-Rumaih, vice minister of transport and logistics services, who had been listed as president and acting head of the authority in recent years.
The information and tourism portfolios were also reshaped. Abdullah Al-Maghlouth, a journalist and author who has served as assistant minister of media and official spokesman for the ministry, was appointed vice minister of media. He previously founded and directed the Centre for Government Communication, which coordinates messaging across state institutions, and held communications roles at Saudi Aramco and the Defence Ministry’s development programme. His appointment reflects continued restructuring of the kingdom’s media apparatus as it seeks tighter alignment with reform messaging.
In tourism, Abdulmohsen Al-Mazyad was promoted to vice minister after overseeing licensing and classification standards in the hospitality sector, including during the Hajj season. He replaces Princess Haifa bint Mohammed bin Saud, who was reassigned as an adviser at the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. Tourism remains a flagship pillar of Vision 2030, with the government aiming to expand leisure and religious visitor numbers and diversify non-oil revenues.
Judicial leadership was also overhauled. Sheikh Saud Al-Mujeb, attorney general since 2017 and a key figure in anti-corruption prosecutions, was removed from his post and appointed adviser at the royal court with ministerial rank. He was replaced by Khalid Al-Yousef, former head of the Board of Grievances, Saudi Arabia’s administrative court system.
Al-Yousef, a Sharia-trained lawyer with a doctorate in law, has served across administrative, commercial, and criminal benches and has been linked to court digitization efforts. Ali Al-Ahaideb, formerly secretary-general of the Administrative Judiciary Council, was appointed president of the Board of Grievances, which oversees disputes involving state bodies and plays an expanding role in commercial and investment litigation as the economy opens further to foreign capital.
Launched in 2016, Vision 2030 has driven sweeping economic and social reforms, from subsidy reductions and new taxes to expanding entertainment and tourism and empowering the Public Investment Fund as a global investor. Non-oil revenues have more than doubled compared with 2016 levels, unemployment has fallen to around 7 percent — meeting targets ahead of schedule — and the private sector’s share of GDP has increased significantly.
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