Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product exceeded $1 trillion for the first time last year, according to the first Saudi Economic Watch report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, an international leading management consulting firm. To accelerate the implementation of Vision 2030, the country has made significant progress in a number of areas.
According to the report, the non-oil private sector was in the lead in Saudi economic growth, with the sector growing by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of the year, 13.9 per cent more than in 2019.
Gross domestic product (GDP) has broken the $1 trillion mark.
According to this latest report, Saudi Arabia has now risen to 17th place in the global economic ranking and gross domestic product (GDP) surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in the past year.
At present, the Saudi goal is to rise to 15 at the end of this year. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi revenues will reach $1.3 trillion by the end of 2028.
The report reviews the transformational social and economic outcomes of Saudi Arabia's realization of Vision 2030, demonstrating its strong performance in a number of economic areas and attributing it to strong private and public sector investment, the growth of non-oil revenues and the continuing multidimensional configuration.
Significant growth in multiple areas
The report shows that Saudi Arabia has achieved significant results in a number of economic areas. With the support of social liberalization and Saudi policy, the female labour force participation rate jumped to 36 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, exceeding the target of 30 per cent by 2030.
The resulting increase in household income has become a key factor in boosting consumption and has further contributed to the healthy functioning of the national economy.
At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the rate of home ownership among Saudi nationals, from 47 per cent in 2016 to 67 per cent, which is even above the United States and France, and is close to achieving the 70 per cent target previously set for 2030.
In recent years, the Saudi Government has placed greater emphasis on the development of the non-oil sector and has made a positive contribution to the diversification of the country ' s economy through a dynamic investment mix. The report shows that Saudi revenues from the non-oil sector have increased from $163 billion in 2016 to $411 billion last year and are expected to increase further by 11 per cent this year.
At the same time, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has evolved from a small holding company to an international dealer. The 2022 annual report issued by PIF showed that its management assets (AUM) had exceeded $59.443 billion.
According to Riyadh Al Najjar, Chairman of the Middle East Regional Board and Senior Partner of KSA, the Kingdom as a whole has made good progress in achieving Vision 2030, with the focus areas of non-oil diversification, improvement of infrastructure, promotion of digitization, creation of a competitive business environment and ensuring good employment opportunities for citizens through nationalization goals.
The report emphasizes that Saudi Arabia has rapidly led to the recovery of the non-oil sector in the aftermath of the economic crisis and that even the most affected hotel, transport and retail and wholesale industries are accelerating their recovery.