Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 for Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification is at risk as banks’ borrowing costs surge to a record high.

Enormous growth in Saudi banks’ borrowing costs, triggered by successive interest rate rises in the US, will put the Crown Prince’s projects under new pressure as the kingdom grapples with a dramatic economic slowdown.

MBS is channelling hundreds of billions of dollars into projects such as the $500bn Neom region, which will feature a ski resort and a 170-kilometer linear city, consisting of two vast, parallel mirrored buildings.

These projects are partly funded by oil revenues but also rely on foreign investment and borrowing. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and its subsidiaries have already borrowed tens of billions of dollars.