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Credit Suisse Group recommended buying shares of Al Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia's biggest bank by market value, as well as Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co. and said the country is in a"golden era.''The brokerage also initiated coverage on Riyad Bank and Almarai Co. with"outperform'' ratings. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world's biggest chemicals maker by market value, received a"neutral'' recommendation."Oil prices are at an all-time high; hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure investments are expected to drive growth,'' analysts including Mohamad Hawa wrote in a note."The government is continuing to diversify its hydrocarbon-based economy.''The economy of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil supplier, will grow 4.9 percent in 2008, according to the median estimate of seven economists surveyed by Bloomberg in December. Oil has climbed about 80 percent in the past year. Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as $1.77, or 1.6 percent, to $115.23 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Half of Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product comes from the oil and gas industry.The kingdom is seeking to build five cities as part of a plan to attract foreign investment and create more than 2 million jobs. King Abdullah Economic City, for example, will be built over 65 square miles of land on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast at a cost of $26.6 billion.By Zainab Fattah
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