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...
Spurred by rapid population growth and mounting public and private investment, Jeddah – Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city – is on the rise. Since the early 1990s the population of its urban area has more than doubled, reaching 4.1m residents as of the end of 2015. While this growth has slowed somewhat over the past half decade, from a high of 3.4% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2015, rising economic...
As home to the world’s most important Islamic sites – including the Masjid Al Haram, or Grand Mosque, which houses the Kaaba – the holy cities of Makkah and Medina are at the centre of religious life for the world’s 1.2bn-strong Muslim population. Located near Jeddah, in western Saudi Arabia, each year the two cities attract millions of religious visitors performing the annual pilgrimages of...
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