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Home to an estimated 15.7% of the world’s proven oil reserves and the single largest economy in the MENA region, Saudi Arabia is a key player not only in the region but also globally. Since the establishment of Saudi Arabia in September 1932, the Kingdom has poured its considerable resources into a series of large-scale economic development,...

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...

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...

Public sector salary cuts and subsidy reductions will play an important part in Saudi Arabia’s effort to close its fiscal gap. However, much attention is also being paid to the other side of the ledger, where a series of tax proposals offer a route to new revenue streams for the government. Historically, taxation has only played a small role...

One of the most important issues currently facing the Middle East is the changing composition of its demographic structure. A massive cohort of young people – known as a youth bulge – is challenging policy makers, and affecting security, education, the labour market and welfare programmes, among other areas. Given the relative stability and...