(3 of 3)
A quiet man with a hint of gray around the temples, Quraishi is somewhat aloof from the press. When asked for an interview, he sometimes demands written questions in advance. If he dislikes what he is being asked, he substitutes his own questions and pens a response.
By contrast, within the close-knit fraternity of international bankers, Quraishi's moods can vary from cold calculation to disarming cordiality. Says a London banker who deals with him often: "When he squints his eyes, you have to watch out. When his eyes twinkle, you know you are doing well."
In private, Quraishi displays the overflowing hospitality characteristic of Saudis. Richard Debs, a managing director of New York's Morgan Stanley investment banking house, recalls the time that Quraishi invited him and his wife on an excursion to the hills north of the Saudi town of Medina, where they picnicked Bedouin-style on rice and lamb among the Nabataean ruins.
SAMA's coziness with Western bankers, and its safety-first investments, have stirred resentment among the Saudis' poorer neighbors. A leading Lebanese newspaper, As Safir, charged last month that Saudi Arabia was "a hostage of the West" held by "chains of gold." Arab nationalist groups throughout the Middle East argue that more of the Saudi surplus should be invested in the Third World.
The premium prices that the Saudis and other OPEC members command for their oil have pushed many developing nations into a state of destitution. The mountain of Third World debt now exceeds $370 billion, but the Saudis have used only a small fraction of their available revenues for foreign aid and low-interest loans. Demands are thus increasing that the Saudis do more to help out.
The Saudis seem willing to oblige, but they prefer their loans to be channeled through organizations like the International Monetary Fund, whose members share the hazards of lending the money. Last March SAMA agreed to loan the IMF nearly $10 billion over the next two years. In exchange, the Saudis received a permanent seat on the fund's executive board. That body decides which countries get financial help from the IMF and the conditions attached to the loans.
In fact, some students of Saudi policy wonder whether the government's motives are really all that altruistic. Saudi Arabia has in the past urged the IMF to grant observer status to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and critics of Saudi foreign policy like Middle East Scholar Rand Fishbein, of Johns Hopkins University, now fear that the Saudis will use their new clout within the fund to force IMF cooperation on the P.L.O. question.
Any such petrowealth power play would, of course, be dangerous for world political as well as financial stability, and so far the Saudis show no sign of undertaking it. That is to be expected. As the holder of more dollars than it knows what to do with, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency stands to gain much by caution and prudence, and to risk everything by impulsive actions that upset the world's finances. With enormous wealth comes large responsibility, and SAMA seems up to the challenge. —By Charles Alexander. Reported by Gisela Bolte/Washington and Adam Zagorin/Beirut