AN EVALUATION OF THE CHALLENGES ADRESSED BY THE SAUDI VISION 2030

Abstract

The strategic plan adopted by the Saudi Arabia government, commonly known as the Vision 2030 is a response, among other challenges, to two significant economic issues namely the underemployment and underutilisation of the Saudi labour force, especially youths and women; and the overreliance of the national economy on a single income which is revenues from oil (Robson et al., 2016). On 25 April 2016, Mohammed bin Salman, the son of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince announced the Vision 2030, making the King and the Crown Prince the two key players central to the Vision 2030. Currently, the national infrastructure in Saudi Arabia is not adequate to promote the growth required and recommended by the Vision 2030. The government of Saudi Arabia has tasked the private sector to contribute to the economy and overcome problems of job creation and diversification. Among other issues, the government aims to increase the contribution to the gross domestic product by small and medium sized companies by 15% by 2030 (Nurunnabi, 2017). The Vision aims to “partner with the private sector to develop the telecommunications and information technology infrastructure” And “also support local investments in the telecommunications and information technology sectors.” (Saudi Vision 2030, pp. 57).The primary reason for adopting this development policy focused on government intervention to redistribute large oil revenues and address market failures, although a very complex process, was to build the economy to promote political and social stability (Yousef 2004). For the United Arab Emirates, just like other countries Middle East countries exporting oil, another driver for government policy intervention was the promotion of the emerging private sector (Schiliro, 2013). The strategy adopted in the UAE subsequently inspired large investment by big industrial players to develop the economy’s productive base and diversify the state’s revenue streams (Masood and Sergi 2008). Competitive labour and energy costs, political stability, facilitation of industrial activities and increased number of businesses in the private sector has been the result of such a development policy (Schiliro, 2013).While the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has to date been successful in convincing some of the religious clerics regarding the transformation plan for the Kingdom, the extent to which the clerics will keep in line with the Crown Prince’s modernisation plans remains uncertain. With the clerics being well recognised for their anti-women stance and their inflexible attempts to keep women out of the public sphere and considering how a significant part of the Vision 2030 focuses on gender equality, the degree to which the clerics will unquestionably submit, and the impact of their response should they respond to the Crown Prince’s reforms, remains unclear. This investigation therefore seeks to address the following research question: “what are the political challenges that the Saudi Vision 2030 aims to respond to?” In addressing the above research question, this investigation will analyse the strengths and weaknesses within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s political economy. An investigation into the cultural forces at play within the Kingdom and their impact on economic development. The study will evaluate how the political economy is associated with the capacity of the state to adopt and fully implement social, political, legal and economic reforms and how all these factors are interrelated in determining the future of the Saudi Arabia. The study will also analyse the Kingdom’s foreign policy and its role in the development of the economy.