How will Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 enhance the country’s economy?
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is a nationwide plan to tap into various sectors of the country to transform and unlock the potential of its people and demonstrate the Kingdom’s commitment to diversifying and sustaining its economy beyond oil and gas.
Under this new roadmap, the Kingdom aims to boost economic growth and job creation for its citizens and attract global talent by opening the country to more foreign investment.
Vision 2030 prioritizes the youth and seeks to improve Saudi Arabia’s business environment, restructuring its economic cities, and deregulating the energy market to make it more competitive.
2030 economic targets
Vision 2030 aims to achieve the following economic objectives in the next six years, thereby actualizing Saudi Arabia’s plan to revitalize its economy globally.
- Increase Saudi Arabia’s annual share of non-oil exports in non-oil GDP from 18.7 percent to 50 percent.
- Raise Saudi Arabia’s Logistics Performance Index Ranking.
- Increase the private sector’s contribution to the GDP from 40 percent to 65 percent.
- Increase Foreign Direct Investments’ contribution to the GDP from 3.8 percent to 5.7 percent.
- Raise Saudi Arabia’s Global Competitiveness Index ranking from 25th to the top 10.
- Increase the Public Investment Fund’s assets from about $159 billion to more than $1.86 trillion.
- Raise Saudi Arabia’s economic position from the 19th largest to the top 15.
- Increase the localization of the oil and gas sector from 40 percent to 75 percent.
- Increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent.
- Increase the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) contribution to the GDP from 20 percent to 35 percent.
- Lower the rate of unemployment from 12.3 percent to seven percent.
Progress so far
As Saudi Arabia moves past the midpoint of its ambitious Vision 2030 journey, first and second-level performance indicators show significant progress toward the 2030 targets, with some metrics surpassing their goals.
According to the initiative’s official webpage, the Kingdom’s unemployment rate decreased from 12.3 percent in 2016 to 8.6 percent in the third quarter of 2023. More than 1.2 million SMEs have registered in the country as of last year.
More women are joining the labor force, and the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) assets under management have grown from $192 billion in 2016 to $749 billion in 2023.
The Kingdom’s global GDP ranking has also improved from 20th in 2016 to 17th in 2023. The private sector now contributes 45 percent to the GDP, aligning with the annual target and working towards a Vision target of 65 percent.
In the tourism sector, Saudi Arabia welcomed 106 million visitors in 2023, including 27.4 million international tourists, positioning it second in terms of growth rate among international tourists.
Homeownership among citizens has reached 63.74 percent, achieving the annual target and progressing toward the Vision goal of 70 percent.
In its eighth year, the 2023 annual report for Saudi Vision 2030 highlights the successful implementation of the vision’s programs. An impressive 87 percent of the 1,064 initiatives planned for 2023 are completed or on track.
Key performance indicators for 2023 include 243 metrics, with 81 percent achieving their third-level targets and 105 indicators surpassing their future targets for 2024-2025.
