Saudi Races to Attract Investment, Create Jobs in Overhaul

Until that happens, Mr Al-Falih said, “Saudi Arabia can sustain low oil prices for a long, long time”.

Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said Saudi Arabia had been a victim of the so-called “Dutch disease” – total dependence on oil in the economy – but is now trying to change that.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, January 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ The ninth annual Global Competitiveness Forum opened last night at a ceremony attended by government dignitaries, business experts and leading academics from Saudi Arabia and overseas. “Our supply is tightly, tightly linked to end-user demand”, he said.

The heavy presence of foreign business representatives suggested many saw opportunities in the Saudi strategy.

Deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman told The Economist magazine that an initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco was being reviewed and would be decided on soon.

The kingdom is now focused on three main sectors: transportation, including the $22.5-billion Riyadh metro system; healthcare; and industrial parts and equipment for the kingdom’s major corporations including Saudi Aramco, petrochemicals giant SABIC and the Saudi Arabian Mining company, Ma’aden. “In our investments capacity, oil and gas has not slowed down”.

Aramco and the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, or Bahri, have amended an expired memorandum of understanding on developing a maritime complex, Aramco said in a statement.

Khalid al-Falih told delegates that the current low price of oil is “irrational” and will not last, rising by the end of 2016, according to comments carried by the Financial Times.

Crude prices have fallen again due to ongoing concerns about the global oversupply, with a snowstorm increasing demand for heating oil in the US.

Oil gave up its gains after the world’s biggest crude exporter said it’s keeping up investments in energy projects and diesel consumption in China dropped for a fourth consecutive month, signaling an industrial slowdown.