Prince Alwaleed, whose interview was aired on Friday March 11, also said the so-called "Day of Rage’ was in reality the day of allegiance and love for Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
Emphasizing the Saudi economy remains “solid,” Prince Alwaleed said the Kingdom was capable of meeting the oil shortfall created by Libya’s unrest.
He said there are problems in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya. “Which means four out of 20 Arab countries, around 20 percent, have some problems. We hope that this thing is not contagious and does not spread at all. But clearly, the Arab world has to look at the future and reflect the needs of its people. So just because certain countries are stable doesn’t mean that their leaders have to take their population for granted. They have to also look out for their needs and to reform, and take steps to be in the driver’s seat.”
Prince Alwaleed was interviewed by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. Following is the complete transcript:
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is the nephew of King Abdullah. He’s also the largest shareholder in Citigroup and among the world’s richest men. He’s also been outspoken about the Mideast region’s need for reform. He joins me right now in an exclusive interview for a CNBC phone interview. Thanks for joining us.
It’s good and pleasure to be with you, Maria, as usual.
OK, let me give you an exact, first-hand report of what happened today exactly in Saudi Arabia, and specifically in Riyadh. Well, today after the Friday prayer, when the so-called demonstrations were supposed to happen, I prayed with the king personally. And after we prayed, I personally visited the two locations that were said supposedly to have these demonstrations in. I went there. I saw in one of the locations three police cars, and the other one four police cars, and I didn’t find a single human being there after the prayer. So in a nutshell, this whole thing was a tempest in a teacup. And if you really followed today the press conference of President Barack Obama, he said two very important points. One of them is any change has to happen — in any society has to happen from within the society, which I agree with. He also said something very important. He said each country is different. What basically he was saying (was) that Saudi Arabia is no Egypt, is no Libya and no Tunis, period. And I think Obama summarized it in a very clear manner. He also said something else about oil. He said when Libya stopped its oil, or at least it went down at least to half its usual production, he said that Arab — other OPEC countries were prepared to cover that shortfall. And guess what, the bulk of that coverage came from Saudi Arabia. So this shows you the importance of Saudi Arabia and its stability internally, and how it reflects to the external stability of the whole world economies.
Let me tell you, the so-called "Day of Rage" should be changed to some other word, please. Should call it Day of Allegiance and Love to King Abdullah. Today if you’re on the streets, people have the flags up, they were just themselves and say, “We will not tolerate and accept any sort of demonstration here. We’re happy with our king, we love our king, and we will not accept any outside interference at all”, as Prince Saud Al-Faisal said very openly in his press conference just two days ago. You know, we have issues, sure, internally, like any other country, and we had some demonstrations in the Shiite province in the east coast. And we had maybe around 40, 50 demonstrators yesterday. And the whole thing, you know, just faded away after they had discussion with the authorities over there. We had issues in the past, and we resolved them internally and amicably. You know, when you have 40 million people going in the street and talking — and mingling with themselves and authorities talk to them and disperse them amicably, this is not a demonstration. So really, this whole thing should be changed from day of rage to day of allegiance to the king.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, look, having said all that. King Abdullah is not going to take this for granted at all. King Abdullah is a reformer. King Abdullah is a reformer since he became the king almost five years ago. And it’s a process, it’s an ongoing process, you know. But each country has to advance and move at its own speed. You know, Saudi Arabia, you know, its constituency is not only the 16 million — the 20 million indigenous people here we have. So really, our constituency goes well beyond our borders. So King Abdullah has to balance all these things together. And sure enough, he’s a reformer. And sure enough, we would like to make many changes internally. I mean, this show, for ladies driving, yes, I’m for it. And listen, the fact that I would publicly and openly, this shows that in Saudi Arabia there’s an open debate. Actually, King Abdullah, under his supervision and guidance, has established a dialogue in Saudi Arabia whereby all can get together and exchange their views. So really, we are heading in the right direction. Maybe not the same speed that you’d like us to, but each country has to move at the speed that it needs. And exactly that’s what President Obama said today, that each country should change in the Middle East at its own speed, its own pace, and without outside interference.
Well, sure. Whenever any Arab country, especially an emirate country, is facing some internal issues and strife, we will have to be concerned. I’m not sure about the word worried, but at least concerned. We believe that the Bahraini government, under the leadership of king of Bahrain and his able crown prince, will be able to solve the problem very amicably.
Let us take the worst-case scenario. Let us say all of the production of Libya is off the market. So that’s 1.5, 1.6 million barrels. Rest assured that Saudi Arabia can cover that within days. Actually, Saudi Arabia’s production (can go up) by one million within a week. Clearly, some other countries also assisted. But if all the production of Libya disappears tomorrow morning, one country called Saudi Arabia can cover it immediately. So we are the stabilizer. We are the ultimate stabilizer of oil. We have 25 percent of all proven oil reserves in the world, and we take that responsibility very aggressively. I mean, had we not raised our production, the price of oil now would be not only $100, could be $140, $150.
It is not justified. This is a panic situation because people are concerned. They don’t understand what’s going on, they just are worried about what’s happening in Libya. And I tell you openly, bluntly and blatantly, if all the production of Libya disappears, one country only, which is Saudi Arabia, can cover it immediately.
Well, you know, about 10 days ago when we had all these civil strife and problems around us, the Saudi market panicked and got scared and worried. So the market crashed by 22 percent. And just last week it re-corrected upward again by 15 percent when people looked at opportunities. And I went public and said wait a minute, this (is) ridiculous. You need to look at the fundamentals of the Saudi economy; a Saudi economy that is growing by 45 percent excluding oil, a country that has almost half a trillion dollars of foreign reserves, a country that has an incredible amount of trade surplus. So all of the economy of this country is great. The economy is doing very well. The companies are doing very well. And thank God, all the, you know, local investors understood that and they stabilized situation and got the market where it’s supposed to be.
I have...we have two positions. One position that’s for me personally and the other position for Kingdom Holding. And for sure we are happy and I’m in constant contact with Mr. Vikram (Pandit) and the high-ranking officials in the bank. We are very happy with what's going on over there. I can assure you that Citibank does not need one iota of increase in equity. It has adequate equity. And Vikram went public by saying that 2012 a share buyback program will be established and dividends will be reinstated. So Citibank’s problems are behind us, and now we are pushing toward the future.
Hopefully if Mr. Vikram can give us some dividends 2011, we welcome that. But I go through you for that purpose.
What I know is that...what Vikram went public with, saying that in the first quarter 2012 he’ll have dividends. But clearly, as a shareholder, I would like to have dividends early. You know, I’m like any other shareholder who will push for dividends. But obviously, that’s the call of Mr. Vikram and the management of Citibank, which I respect a lot.
Well, I mean, clearly, you know, you have problems in Egypt, you have problems in Tunis, you have in Libya, and now there are some ongoing problems right now in Yemen. But as a result...have said that if you have four countries that have civil strife, you can’t generalize. Because, after all, we have 22 Arab countries. So four out of 20 is around 20 percent of Arab countries have some problems. We hope that this thing is not contagious and does not spread at all, and so far so good. But clearly, the Arab world has to look at the future and reflect the needs of its people. So just because certain countries are stable doesn’t mean that they’re...that the leaders have to take their...the population for granted. They have to also look out for the needs and to reform and take...and be in the driver’s seat.
: Prince Alwaleed, the market (is) moving, as we have been discussing, the unrest and the lack of upset on this "Day of Rage." We thank you very much for joining us, Prince Alwaleed.
