Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that the Kingdom will spend more in the next 10 years than it has done in the past 300 years as he announces a new program to strengthen partnership with the private sector.
During his announcement of the “Shareek” partner program between the private and public sectors, the Crown Prince announced that oil giant Aramco and petrochemical firm SABIC would lead investments of 5 trillion riyals ($1.3 trillion) by the local private sector by 2030.
“When we’re talking about 27 trillion Saudi riyals in the next 10 years, solid, we have it, solid. 3 trillion from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), we announced it and where we brought it from, committed to spend. Today, 5 trillion from the big companies, a majority of which are government-owned, solid and committed. 4 trillion riyals under a strategy to be announced later, part of it is business as usual and a bigger part of it is solid, we have it, 12 trillion riyals,” the Crown Prince told a panel discussion of representatives from the private sector.
The total amount would rise to 27 trillion riyals with government spending and domestic consumption.
“The new Shareek (Partner) program will help the private sector create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and will boost the contribution of the private sector to GDP by up to 65% by the end of the decade,” the prince said.
He stressed that building a vibrant and prosperous private sector is one of the Kingdom’s national priorities, given the importance it represents, and a vital role, as a major partner in the prosperity and development of the Kingdom’s economy, to continue to perform its supportive tasks, to achieve the national aspirations set by Vision 2030.
“So there is spending in 10 years more than the history for the entire Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, since 300 years before the discovery oil and after. That’s huge. That’s huge. That is why we’re talking with the big companies and the private sector, this is a huge opportunity. This is a new Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where spending is more than what has been spent the past 300 years,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.
Culled from www.english.alarabiya.net/