RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The malls are full, the cars are fast, the fashions are sharp — conspicuous consumption is king as Saudis enjoy the benefits of oil at almost $100 a barrel. Little more than a dusty desert outpost three decades ago, Riyadh is a boom town where even a stock market crash last year and a spike in inflation over recent months have failed to halt the orgy of conspicuous consumption. ‘Saudis actually like to enjoy life. With restaurants they know very well what they are eating since they travel abroad so much,’ says Tony, manager of a recently-opened upmarket restaurant in the heart of the shopping district. ‘Business is very good. If it wasn’t, our chain wouldn’t be opening more restaurants in Riyadh and other cities.’ On the crowded balcony, the chatter of unveiled young women almost drowns out the din of traffic on the street below in the Arabian peninsula’s largest city, with four million people. It’s late into the evening but Saudis are out in force early in the week, dining in the city’s eateries and clogging its palm-lined boulevards with gas-guzzling four-wheel drives. Ever since oil moved […]