Post-COVID Saudi Arabia doubles down on Vision 2030
Although foreign investors mostly took a pass on Vision 2030, Saudi companies and the Public Investment Fund will pour money into a $3.2 trillion reform plan.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced mobilizing private sector firms to pump investments worth $1.3 trillion into the Saudi economy over the next decade to jump-start a “prosperous private sector” and pivot the economy away from oil. This is part of a $3.2 trillion state-led investment drive that also involves the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Twenty-four local private sector companies including oil giant Saudi Aramco and petrochemical firm SABIC will drive the new Shareek (Partner) program. The largest listed companies have been asked to lower their dividends to redirect the money back into the local economy.
Participation in the program is voluntary, said Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser. The country’s track records raise suspicions that the oil company is being forcibly pushed into state projects unrelated to its energy business. Ahead of the company’s stock market listing in 2019, Saudi Arabia reportedly "bullied" dozens of the kingdom’s wealthiest families to become cornerstone investors out of "patriotic duty," the Financial Times reported.
The $3.2 trillion push is Riyadh’s latest attempt to put Saudi capital at work locally. The $400 billion PIF, which raised bank debt since 2018 to boost its firepower in recent years, pledged to inject $40 billion into the local economy each year through 2025.
