Saudi Arabia's government plans to spend 100 billion riyals ($27 billion) in 2019 and 2020 as part of a new industrial strategy aimed at weaning the kingdom off oil income, creating jobs, and attracting as much as 1.6 trillion riyals in investment by 2030.
The National Industrial Development and Logistics Programme covers 42 initiatives for creating local content in key sectors that include mining, logistics, and various other industries, deputy minister of energy, industry and mineral resources Abed Abdullah Al Saadoun said.
"What we are trying to achieve from this programme is to triple the contribution of these sectors to the gross domestic product by five times. Private sector jobs will rise by two times to 3.1 million. Exports from the four sectors will grow five times from levels today," the National cited Al Saadoun as saying.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, is undertaking a slew of measures to help boost the contribution of the non-oil sector to the economy under Vision 2030, the overarching roadmap for the kingdom’s overhaul.
Under the Vision 2030, the private sector’s contribution to the economy is set to increase to 65% by 2030 from the current 40% of gross domestic product.
