Growth of Kingdom’s non-oil activities is the highest in 12 years: Saudi Minister of Economy
Saudi Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim said that opportunities will be provided for citizens and foreign investors to ensure more active participation.
During his participation in the sessions of the Saudi Budget Forum 2023, Al-Ibrahim explained that the private sector is looking for an institutional environment.
He pointed out that the Kingdom has focused all its efforts in the past years on creating this environment.
The Saudi Minister of Economy pointed out that this environment leads to clarity of policies and the ability to extrapolate them.
This is what the private sector and investors are looking for, in addition to continuous communication, including measuring the impact of legislation on the private sector.
Al-Ibrahim mentioned that one of the indicators that reflects the role and growth of the private sector is non-oil activities, which grew this year by 8.2% in the second quarter, and about 6% in the third quarter.
Al-Ibrahim said that the growth rate of oil activities from the beginning of the year until the end of the third quarter amounted to 5.9%, which is one of the fastest growth rates in the past 12 years.
He added that this growth reflects the volume of spending allocated to strategies and their integration with policies and structural reforms that are reaping the fruits of the Kingdom.
He pointed out that economic growth in the current year will reach 8.5%, which comes as a result of the implementation of Vision 2030.
The sessions of the Saudi Budget Forum 2023 kicked off on Sunday at the King Abdullah Petroleum Research Center (KAPSARC) in Riyadh.
The Saudi Budget Forum, organized by the Ministry of Finance, continues on Sunday and Monday.
The forum’s work includes 30 speakers from the government and private sectors. They will review during the forum’s sessions the performance of the government for the year 2022, and the impact of government services on citizens and the private sector. They will also talk about the plans and future projects of those agencies.
The forum includes 11 dialogue sessions, where today, Sunday, six sessions will be held to discuss the following themes: “Financial Sustainability and Economic Growth Drivers”, “Sustainable Energy”, and “Basic Services in light of the National Transformation”.
Sunday’s sessions also include “The Role of Infrastructure and Logistics Services in Supporting Economic Development,” “The Impact of Enabling Investment on Economic Growth,” and “Strengthening the Technical Sector to Enable the Digital Economy.”
