Wealthy Gulf states have long relied on Western consulting giants like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Bain to help spur efforts to wean their economies off oil. In turn, the region has developed another dependence — on consultants themselves — that could also prove hard to quit. Some signs in 2025 suggest that Gulf governments have begun reckoning with this overreliance. 

A tremor rippled through the sector in late February, when news surfaced that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) had banned UK-based PwC from securing new advisory work for a year. The decision ostensibly stemmed from the firm’s attempt to recruit an executive from the megaproject Neom, but the move has also been seen as a reflection of Riyadh’s growing dissatisfaction with big spending on consultants. 

This perspective on spending mirrors a growing public backlash toward international consulting firms, which enjoy near unparalleled access and ability to shape local policymaking. Dawud Al Ansari, president of the Majan Council, an Omani think tank, told Al-Monitor, “People are rightfully asking more intensely, where does that money actually go?” Al Ansari has studied consulting firms for years in the Gulf, where governments shell out some $4 billion annually on their services — an outsized figure given the region’s population of about 25 million citizens.

In Saudi Arabia particularly, foreign consultancies have become central to government processes alongside helping shepherd efforts to deliver megaprojects and build entire industries from scratch, which has made the kingdom one of the world's largest markets for consultants. Yet, the PIF's ban on PwC coincided with signs indicating that demand for consultants has been eroding in Saudi Arabia since last year.