RIYADH: The young population in Saudi Arabia is helping the country to achieve the goals of Vision 2030, according to Saad Al-Shahrani, deputy minister at the Saudi Ministry of Investment.
While speaking at the Saudi Spanish Investment Forum in Riyadh on Sunday, the deputy minister revealed that the young population in the nation is tackling all the challenges that are arising as the country progresses toward achieving the goals of Vision 2030.
The deputy minister noted that the oil industry was the key driver of the Kingdom’s economy before 2016.
“In 2016, the crown prince came up with Vision 2030 and set up the rules and guidelines for our economy to be more ambitious, effective, and diverse. We had 13 programs launched in 2016 from diverse fields including macroeconomic reforms, microstructure reforms and other institutional reforms,” said Al-Shahrani.
The deputy minister also added that the unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia will go down from 12 percent to 7 percent by 2030.
He pointed out that the Kingdom also set up a target to have the private sector lead the economy, contributing up to 65 percent of gross domestic product from 40 percent by 2030.
The deputy minister further noted that Saudi Arabia has a target for foreign direct investment to be at 5.7 percent of GDP, from less than 1 percent currently.
