Bin Salman is not Satisfied with Progress of 2030 Vision

Saudi Arabia is reviewing its plan for life after oil with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It is said that he is unsatisfied with the progress of the 2030 Vision. He has instructed the government to control spending. “Officials are looking at hundreds of programs and initiatives under “2030 Vision” and could cut, merge and amend some of them, or create new ones,” said people familiar with the matter. The review isn’t the first since the agenda was announced less than four years ago.

The sprawling program aims to diversify the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy by attracting foreign investment, balancing the budget and privatizing government assets. But economists say some targets have slipped while government employees have criticized overlapping remits and priorities that conflict. The recent record initial public offering in the kingdom’s giant oil company is a key part of the revamp, raising a windfall of almost $26 billion.

One motivation of the restructuring is to control spending related to the plan, three of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public, Prince Mohammed wasn’t satisfied with achievements so far.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said Vision 2030 is “reviewed every year.” Original targets include a plan to increase the sovereign wealth fund’s assets to 7 trillion riyals ($1.9 trillion) from 600 billion riyals and another to lower citizen unemployment to 7%. The latter has been especially challenging, with the jobless rate rising last year to its highest level in over a decade before declining slightly to 12.3%.

Source: Bloomberg