Economy
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2020
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Four years after the launch of Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive development strategy, Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s non-oil economy is starting to see the benefits of sustained reform. Any decrease in revenue caused by lower oil prices is a significant challenge and presents a downside risk for the economy. Actions taken by the government to mitigate the effects of both the depressed oil price scenario and Covid-19 in the first half of 2020 are substantial. These will support non-oil growth and ensure a social safety net for citizens in the short term, while in the longer term the Kingdom’s increasingly diverse economy is expected to benefit from the implementation of Vision 2030 objectives. This chapter contains interviews with Fahd Al Rasheed, President, Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC); Anas Alfaris, President, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST); and Saad bin Othman Al Kasabi, Governor, Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation (SASO).

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Staying on course: The government holds steady to long-term goals while mitigating the effects of recent global economic challenges
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Four years after the launch of Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive development strategy, Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s non-oil economy is starting to see the benefits of sustained reform. The government’s decision to weaken the link between hydrocarbons and economic growth has seen a robust pipeline of projects across a range of sectors come to fruition. However, after a period of healthy non-oil GDP expansion, projections for 2020 have been cast into doubt by the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic.…

Interview

The next generation: Fahd Al Rasheed, President, Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), on creating a city of the future
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Interview:Fahd Al Rasheed In which ways are Riyadh’s mega-projects set to increase the city’s commercial activities? FAHD AL RASHEED: The Saudi capital is undertaking a major transformation to become one of the most competitive and liveable cities in the world by the next decade. The mega-projects under development will support this, as well as secure Riyadh’s position as a popular destination for business, leisure and domestic tourism. One key objective is to develop real and lasting…

Analysis

Privatisation push: Dedicated framework supports a more cooperative approach between the government and investors
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While Saudi Arabia’s deep reserves have helped it mitigate the negative effects of the recent lowoil-price environment, the link between fiscal performance and global energy prices has long been acknowledged as a challenge to stability. Ramping up private sector investment, both local and foreign, is therefore a key pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 development strategy. Under this roadmap, Saudi Arabia aims to establish an environment where domestic and global investors can effectively…

Interview

Shaping lives: Anas Alfaris, President, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), on the impact of new technologies, smart cities and genomics
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Interview:Anas Alfaris To what extent will technology-focused small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) support the growth of local content in the Kingdom? ANAS ALFARIS: SMEs make up more than 90% of the Kingdom’s businesses but contribute only around 20% of GDP. SMEs provide more than 8m jobs, 1.6m of which are held by Saudi citizens. In order to achieve the growth targets outlined in Vision 2030 and maintain global competitiveness, the government has created an ecosystem to enable companies…

Interview

Evolved approach: Saad bin Othman Al Kasabi, Governor, Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation (SASO), on improving standards and regulations in emerging sectors
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Interview:Saad bin Othman Al Kasabi How does an extended implementation of standardisation help improve efficiency and safety? SAAD OTHMAN AL KASABI: In light of the goals of Vision 2030, raising the share of non-oil exports to non-oil GDP from 16% to 50% is one of the Kingdom’s most important objectives. It is also one of the greatest challenges, as it requires raising the level of awareness and appreciation of applying standards to improve the comparative advantage of national products…

Analysis

Regional leader: The Kingdom is set to play a key role in strengthening global cooperation and coordination
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The biannual meetings of the G20, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, have become major events in the global economic calendar. What started in 1999 as an informal gathering of central bankers and finance ministers has become the principal forum by which the world’s leading economies have sought to prevent worldwide economic crises. Its work following the 2007-08 global financial crisis, which included the establishment of a new Financial Stability Board to drive regulatory reform across…

Overview

Tax liabilities: Impacts of the trend towards lower corporate tax rates on developed and developing economies
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Recent decades have seen a downward convergence in corporate tax regimes as advanced, emerging and developing economies moved to grab a bigger slice of the global investment pie. Headline corporate tax rates have fallen by 20 percentage points since the early 1980s. Alongside lower average rates, special tax incentives aimed at capturing investment have emerged, further reducing the effective rates paid by transnational corporations. In the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis, many countries were compelled to slash spending and raise revenue in order to rein in precipitous budget deficits, and a similar challenge is being faced…