Saudi Arabia undisturbed by falling oil prices

Riyadh

AHMED al-Ghaith pulled his Dodge Durango into a petrol station in central Riyadh and told the attendant to fill it up. In a country where petrol sells for 45 US cents a gallon, that cost him US$12.

With global oil prices plummeting, you might think people in Saudi Arabia, a nation synonymous with oil, where 90 per cent of government revenue comes from holes drilled in its majestically profitable sands, would be freaking out.

But at a busy downtown petrol station one day recently, there was not a whiff of concern among the drivers of the stream of Audis, Cadillacs, Mercedes-Benzes, Dodges and Chevys pulling up to the pumps in a land where government-subsidised petrol is as cheap as water.

"Personally, it doesn't affect me a bit," said Mr Ghaith, 49, who works in a bookstore and spends about US$40 a month fuelling his big American-made SUV. "It might affect the government in the future - maybe they will have to cut back on their big projects. But it's no problem for me."…