Saudi Prince Calls On Private Sector To Bolster $7 Trillion Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s crown prince laid out a 27 trillion riyal ($7.2 trillion) domestic spending and investment plan that relies heavily on commitments from the kingdom’s private sector to bolster growth over the next ten years.

Domestic investments from private Saudi companies will amount to 5 trillion riyals over the coming decade, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a televised speech on Tuesday evening. Central government spending will account for around 10 trillion riyals over the same period, while the sovereign wealth fund previously announced that it plans to invest 3 trillion riyals on top of that, he said. Another 4 trillion riyals from the 10-year plan will come from a not-yet-announced national investment strategy, while the final 5 trillion riyals will come from ordinary consumer spending.

Prince Mohammed said the new investments would generate thousands of job opportunities and stimulate growth.

The announcement underlined the extent to which the crown prince’s focus will be domestic over the next ten years as he tries to overhaul the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter and create enough jobs for the kingdom’s youthful population. It also showed that the government is counting on the struggling private sector to boost growth -- which has long depended primarily on state spending. The new plan comes after the coronavirus pandemic and oil market turmoil created a double crisis for Saudi Arabia, setting back the 35-year-old de factor ruler’s goals to boost the non-oil economy and slash citizen unemployment.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the 4 trillion riyal national investment strategy would come from the government versus private investors.

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