The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will exceed its goal of raising assets to $600 billion by 2020 amid a push to lower the local economy's reliance on oil, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Bloomberg News in an interview published Oct. 5.
"We are now above $300 billion, we're getting close to $400 billion. Our target in 2020 is around $600 billion. I believe we will surpass that target in 2020," he said, adding that the sovereign wealth fund will look to diversify investments outside of Saudi Arabia in 2019.
The fund also intends to invest another $45 billion in the SoftBank vision fund, the biggest private equity fund in the world.
"We have a huge benefit from the first one. We would not put, as PIF, another $45 billion if we didn't see huge income in the first year with the first $45 billion," the crown prince said.
Meanwhile, the country also plans to privatize more than 20 companies in 2019, most of which are involved in the water, agriculture and energy sectors, as part of efforts to shift away from oil exports, he added.