Saudi Arabia is being asked to use some of its wealth to back rescue lending programmes from the International Monetary Fund even as Saudi investors have been suffering a financial crisis of their own.

Abdullah Elmossa, a property agent from Dammam, lost $2m (£1.3m) in the Saudi stock market crash of 2006. This year, he lost another $1m when the main index, the Tadawul, tumbled along with global equity markets.