Opec Output Edges Up Despite Saudi Cut
10 Aug, 2018
Economics & Finance
Saudi Arabia Struggling To Reform Economy Despite Ambitious Plans
20 Jul 2018
Planned economic reforms announced in 2016 were a welcome sign of intent from Saudi Arabia’s leadership. But more than two years into the program progress has been slow and a tough job is getting tougher.
Announced to much fanfare in April 2016, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 seeks to transform the kingdom’s economy. Always a tall order, key tenets of the agenda remain as far from being realized as ever.
Domestic opposition to some of the more controversial measures that may hit people in their pocket has forced the government to kick some elements of the plan into the long grass (MEES, 28 April 2017). And as rebounding oil prices alleviate the government’s fiscal concerns, the imperative for reform lessens. The continued absence of a revamped National Transformation Plan (“NTP 2.0”) is certainly a cause for concern that momentum for reform has been lost....