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Saudi Arabia has signed $56billion (£43billion) contracts 'mostly with US firms' despite Jamal Khashoggi's alleged murder.

Oil minister, Khalid al Falih, said American companies accounted for most of the 25 deals signed at a conference in Riyadh that was boycotted in the wake of the journalist's death.

Top US-based executives were among 40 participants rumoured to have pulled out of the event in the wake of allegations Saudi Arabia was behind the killing in Istanbul.

But the oil minister told state TV that the US will remain a 'key part of the Saudi economy' despite the boycott of the country's premier investment event.

He said: "The U.S. will remain a key part of the Saudi economy because the interests that tie us are bigger than what is being weakened by the failed boycotting campaign of the conference."

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

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Economy Minister Mohammed al-Tuwaijri said international investors will be offered the chance to invest in a raft of privatisation deals from grains to healthcare over the next six months.

He did not give details of the deals, but said the government had received many expressions of interest from Asian and European companies.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, previously said he would not attend the Future Investment Initiative "unless a substantially different set of facts emerged".

Saudi's sovereign wealth fund invested $3.5bn in the company in 2016, reports Bloomberg.