The sweeping changes announced in Vision 2030 aim at giving rise to a reinvigorated and prosperous private sector, driving growth through broad industrial development. By the time the G20 summit convenes in Riyadh in 2020, four years after the Vision 2030 announcements, the country’s leaders will be able to showcase some of the first results of the new agenda, as detailed in the National...
While primarily an equity exchange, over the past decade the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) has evolved from its starting point as a single-asset-class platform to include a wider array of financial instruments, starting in 2010 with the addition of an exchange-traded fund. Tadawul entered 2019 on the back of a strong year, in which the main index showed the first solid gain since 2016. A raft...
Amid ongoing reform of subsidies, the gradual privatisation of public assets, and ambitious plans to expand seawater desalination facilities and improve sanitation infrastructure, Saudi Arabia’s utilities sector will undergo significant changes over the coming years. In order to diversify its energy mix, the Kingdom is pursuing a series of ambitious goals to increase its solar and wind...
As one of the biggest banking sectors by assets in the MENA region, Saudi Arabia has been something of a sleeping giant in recent years. Economic uncertainty and the effects of low international oil prices have seen both muted lending growth and deposit acquisition, while economic reforms have led to more market uncertainty. The Kingdom’s lenders have, however, remained profitable throughout...
Firming oil prices have brought about an improvement in Saudi Arabia’s trade balance in 2018. The government’s longer-term ambition, however, is to protect itself from the uncertainty of the energy market by diversifying the export base away from hydrocarbons. The Kingdom’s newly formulated economic strategy also aims to boost foreign investment, thereby reducing the economy’s dependence on...
A welcome improvement was seen in the Kingdom’s economic fortunes in 2018, with GDP growth of 1.2% in the first quarter marking the first expansion of the national economy after five consecutive quarters of contraction. Overall, the economy grew by 2.2% for the year, compared to a contraction of 0.7% in 2017. Firming oil prices have enabled the government to produce two record-breaking budgets...
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