海湾战争使沙特阿拉伯这个昔日的世界主要资金供应国目前正面临着近30年来最严重的资金短缺现象。根据西方金融界人士的估算,沙特与海湾战争有关的直接或间接支出达640亿美元。一些沙特人甚至认为,1990年8月到1991年8月的一年间,沙特的花费可能将达700-800亿美元。去年8月初海湾危机爆发伊始,沙特便紧急向西方国家购置了130亿美元的武器装备。此后,沙特 The Gulf War has put Saudi Arabia, the former world’s major capital supplier, in the face of the most serious shortage of funds in nearly 30 years. According to estimates from Western financial circles, Saudi Arabia incurred direct or indirect expenditures of 64 billion U.S. dollars related to the Gulf War. Some Saudis even believe that from August 1990 to August 1991, the cost of Saudi Arabia could reach 70-800 billion U.S. dollars. At the very outset of the Gulf crisis in early August last year, Saudi Arabia immediately purchased 13 billion U.S. dollars worth of weapons and equipment from the West. Since then, Saudi Arabia