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While economic debate in 2015 centred on low oil prices and the challenge they posed to the economy, by 2016 the focus of public discourse had shifted to how these hurdles might be overcome. In January the government set the tone for the discussion: after years of only modest reform it would radically reconfigure the Saudi economy to cope with...

The drop in global energy prices from mid-2014 has had a significant impact on the member states of the GCC, which together produce 20% of the world’s crude oil. Hydrocarbons are the basis for the region’s economies, and the drop in oil revenues has driven all six GCC nations into budget deficits. While the large reserves built up during the...

China sees Saudi Arabia as a brotherly state. A Kingdom with huge oil and gas reserves, a country with a time-honoured history, the birthplace of Islam and the magnificent setting sun against the vast expanse of the desert, these are the images that Saudi Arabia brings to our mind.

Benefitting greatly from rising oil prices and production over the last decade, Saudi Arabia has used its sizeable revenues to build up strong external buffers and drive GDP growth through extensive spending programmes. The decline in oil prices that began in mid-2014, however, has significantly lowered export revenues and brought the era of...

Since Saudi Arabia began reducing its domestic wheat production in 2008, the issue of food security has been high on the agenda for GCC governments. The Kingdom, which was once self-sufficient in the grain and even exported to the wider region, recognised a fact that is true across the whole of the Arabian Peninsula: it is running out of water...