Q&A: Saudi Arabia as a new social impact investor in Africa

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is looking at emerging markets to help bring in the ambitious returns it is seeking over the coming decades. Through six separate funds, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is targeting 8 to 9 percent returns between now and 2025.

The African continent holds some of the most promising returns for patient capital, PIF officials told global investors this week. “PIF is a long-term investor, so of course we really do care about the cycle, but we are looking beyond,” its managing director, Yasir bin Othman Al Rumayyan, told the Future Investment Initiative conference this week in Riyadh. “We are looking 2030 and beyond that.”