RIYADH: One of Saudi Arabia’s most influential economic policy-making bodies has approved 133 recommendations on improving the competitiveness of the kingdom’s economy, which will be announced within the next six months.
The comments, by Abdullatif al-Othman, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), are the first time that an official of ministerial rank has talked about details of the National Transformation Plan (NTP) since it was first announced three months ago.
NTP is a plan involving a number of significant reforms to the economy of the world’s top crude oil exporter to help it weather the impact of lower oil prices and diversify away from reliance on hydrocarbon revenues.
NTP is being overseen by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA), headed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and is expected to implement changes including privatisations of state assets and reductions of state subsidies when formally announced in the coming weeks.
