FII Priority: PIF Governor says motivation, unity key success factors for Vision 2030

Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Chairman of the FII Institute, Yasir al-Rumayyan, in a panel at the FII Priority summit in Miami, outlined the inception of Vision 2030, and highlighted aspects of how the Kingdom has managed to achieve targets of its strategy years ahead of schedule and surpassed the initial set goals.

He said at the ‘In Conversation: A Dream Reimagined’ panel that Vision 2030 began with a thorough analysis of the Saudi economy, followed by a comparison to global benchmarks. This led to the identification of specific objectives, numerical targets, and key performance indicators (KPIs), along with an action plan to achieve these goals.

Once the implementation began, some targets were reached a decade ahead of schedule, such as the percentage of women working in Saudi Arabia, which increased from around 16 percent to 37 percent by 2020, surpassing the 30 percent target set for 2030.

He added that the Saudi economy is flourishing, underling how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted a 7.5 percent GDP growth in 2022; yet, the Kingdom achieved an 8.7 percent year-on-year GDP growth, making it the fastest-growing economy among G20 countries. He illustrated the success of the strategy with the example of how unemployment rates have also decreased from 12.5 percent in 2016 to below 9 percent. He emphasized that the focus is not only on employment numbers but also on the quality of the jobs created, an aspect not always reflected in economic figures.

Al-Rumayyan went on to outline the elements to which he attributed Vision 2030’s success: strong leadership from King Salman and the Crown Prince, well-planned and ambitious but achievable targets, and having the right people working on the project. He said the combination of political will, effective processes, and a capable team has contributed to the success of Vision 2030 so far, and will continue to drive its progress towards achieving all targets by 2030.

He said: “We owe much of Saudi Arabia’s economic success to the solid planning of Vision 2030 with its challenging yet achievable targets. We have the right politics, the right processes and the right people in place working towards a common goal.”