Saudi Arabia has outperformed some of the goals outlined in Vision 2030, such as female workforce participation which increased to 36 percent, ahead of the 2030 target of 30 percent, according to a recent report by PwC Middle East.
The Kingdom’s economic diversification plans are beginning to bear fruit across various sectors, the report said, with the share of the non-oil economy reaching 59 percent, and non-oil GDP increasing in 2022 by 15 percent in actual terms and 28 percent in nominal terms, compared to the pre-Vision baseline.
The report stressed that Riyadh found its way to recovery through the tourism sector and the economic initiatives, which are aimed at expansion, innovation and diversification, indicating that this positive outlook was due to high oil prices and strong balance sheets at the sovereign and institutional levels.
Richard Boxshall, PwC Partner and Chief Economist commented: “The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as a whole is making good progress towards achieving its countries’ National Visions, with areas of common focus including non-oil diversification, improving infrastructure, advancing digitalization, creating competitive business environments and workforce nationalization targets for the private sector.”
He continued: “Most GCC countries are also advancing towards their sustainability objectives, such as investing in solar generation capacity. With COP28 on the horizon, we expect the momentum and reinvestments driving this transformation to increase.”
The report highlighted the speed with which the region moved in its endeavor to secure the recovery of the non-oil economy, even in the sectors most affected by the pandemic, namely hospitality, transportation, retail and wholesale trade.
In 2022, the tourism sector in five Gulf countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, recorded a decline of 8 percent compared to 2019 levels. However, by the last quarter of 2022, three of them, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, recorded much higher levels than those registered in the same period in 2019.
PwC Middle East revealed that Saudi Arabia received almost 6 million visitors in the fourth quarter of 2022, up 47 percent compared to the same quarter in 2019.
“Saudi Arabia’s economy has shown great growth since the launch of Vision 2030... The Kingdom’s increased focus on diversity has enabled the country to lead its economic sustainability agenda on a larger scale,” said Faisal Al-Sarraj, partner and Saudi deputy country leader at PwC Middle East.
He added: “This only gives us more optimism that the future for the Kingdom expands beyond Vision 2030 and will continue to lead by example through innovative solutions and transformation.”
