Saudi Arabia has traditionally had low rates of female labour force participation, as legislative, social, educational and occupational constraints prevented women from fully taking part in the labour market. Vision 2030 – the Kingdom’s blueprint for socio-economic transformation – sought to create a society and economy in which women could play a much fuller role. As such,...
A key institution in the enactment of Vision 2030, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. The PIF became the fifth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world in April 2022 with $620bn in terms of assets, following a $40bn contribution in February 2022 from a 4% share in Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s oil and gas producer.
Originally scheduled to take place in 2020 and postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 General Housing and Population Census is the fifth nationwide census in the history of Saudi Arabia. Mandated in 2017, the census is a key step towards achieving the objectives of Vision 2030, particularly with regards to the acceleration of socio-economic development...
As oil prices reach recent highs, a number of countries in the Middle East have unveiled fiscal measures designed to balance their budgets after two years of Covid-19 pandemic-related spending. Bahrain is following this trend: in October 2021 it released a plan designed to balance the budget by 2024. In addition to doubling the value-added tax (VAT) rate to 10%, the plan...
While Saudi Arabia has long been a key market for many multinational corporations, these have often headquartered themselves elsewhere in the region, with only a secondary presence in the Kingdom. This is changing, however, as the market opens up more to international businesses and a new policy begins to take effect. Known as Programme HQ, this new policy aims to attract...
From remote work to widespread job losses, the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way people work. These interruptions are likely to have a significant impact on the labour market well into the future. In a briefing from June 2021, the UN said that many emerging markets in particular were experiencing a “full-blown unemployment crisis” that was exacerbating existing...
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