Saudi Arabia to tweak Vision 2030 plan to transform economy

Riyadh/Dubai — Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, will adjust its Vision 2030 plan to transform its economy as needed, scaling back some projects and accelerating others, its finance minister said on Sunday.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s special meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development in Riyadh, Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the kingdom’s focus is on ensuring the quality of future economic growth, and recognises that the challenges it faces require flexibility.

“There are challenges … we don’t have ego, we will change course, we will adjust, we will extend some of the projects, we will downscale some of the projects, we will accelerate some of the projects,” Jadaan said.

Saudi Arabia is accelerating efforts to diversify its economy away from oil under a plan known as Vision 2030. It aims to develop sectors such as tourism and industry, expand the private sector and create jobs.

Non-oil activities vastly outperformed oil sector expansion last year, growing 4.4%, while the overall economy shrank 0.8% due to cuts to oil production and lower prices.

Saudi Arabia is projected to grow 2.6% this year, a downward revision from a 4% forecast in October, the IMF said in its latest regional outlook report due to continued output cuts.

In the medium term, non-oil growth is expected to come in more than 5% a year, Jadaan said in February, though the kingdom is likely to continue to rely on hydrocarbon revenue to drive investments into expanding non-oil activities.

On Sunday, Jadaan re-emphasised the role of an expanded private sector in delivering Vision 2030.

“Vision 2030 is about empowering the private sector. The government role is to be out of business — the government role is to make policies to enable the private sector but not to actually do the business.”

The Arab World’s largest economy needs oil at $96.2 to balance its 2024 budget, the IMF forecast.

Reuters