Like many places in the world, Saudi Arabia’s media landscape is going through rapid change, primarily brought about by digital technology and the rise of social media – internet penetration rate is estimated at around 65% overall and 93% among Saudi nationals. While traditional media still has a strong footprint and is unlikely to be pushed aside any time soon, legacy media organisations are...
Saudi Arabia is the biggest ICT market in the Middle East, with annual sector spending expected to reach about SR140bn ($37.3bn) by 2017. At a time of shrinking oil revenues, the government has identified ICT as a key driver of smart, cost-effective solutions for government and commerce alike, and as a major pillar of the Kingdom’s long-term development strategy, Vision 2030. However, there...
Saudi Arabia has long been a major investor in its military, with defence outlays representing a significant portion of the national budget. Despite the drop in oil prices since mid-2014, which in the short term is having a noticeable impact on the government’s military spending, defence outlays are likely to continue to grow, with multi-billion-dollar contracts still being signed. While...
In recent years an emphasis has been placed on growing the Kingdom’s non-oil private sector by bringing in manufacturing and other industries to diversify the economy. The National Transformation Programme has replaced the Kingdom’s 10th Development Plan and establishes the means by which the country will meet the objectives set out in Vision 2030, whose main goal is to diversify the economy...
With some analysts expecting Saudi Arabia’s population to expand by over 10m to reach 39.1m by 2030, alongside continued growth in the Kingdom’s energy-intensive industries, demand for electricity and desalinated water is set to rise considerably in the coming years. Estimates suggest that more than SR500bn ($133.3bn) will need to be invested in the power sector over the next 10 years to...
The drop in the price of oil since mid-2014 has had a significant impact on Saudi Arabia, which relies on the stuff for the vast bulk of state revenues – 73% by some estimates – and for around 40% of its GDP. While global demand remains high, the increasing supply of oil on the international market, much of it coming from Russia, US shale oil and Iran, has continued to push prices down. The...
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