Meet the Kingdom

Saudi Arabia holds exciting potential and opportunity for investors. A G20 economy with a young, highly-educated population of more than 30 million people, it also boasts a strategic location at the heart of major trade routes crossing three continents and bountiful natural resources.

As part of Vision 2030, a wide range of economic reforms has succeeded in creating new business opportunities, leveraging Saudi Arabia’s key strategic assets, and driving economic growth and diversification.

Through Invest Saudi, Saudi Arabia defined its priority sectors and introduced an inclusive strategy for driving growth through investment. Subsequently, the Kingdom’s business environment has opened up and is transforming – reflected in the fact that Saudi Arabia rose 30 places in the World Bank’s most recent Ease of Doing Business report. No country in the world saw a faster rise, in such a short amount of time.

This momentum is a clear signal: Saudi Arabia is the future-forward economy, offering untapped potential and unique business opportunities

When numbers talk

33.4 Million

Total Population

Approx. 50%

Percentage of Youth (Under 30)

1.6%

Population Growth Rate (next 5 years)

3.2 Million

Saudi labor force

$ 782 Billion

Nominal GDP

$ 23,570

GDP Per Capita

$230.8 Billion

FDI inward stock

Why Saudi Arabia?

01Saudi Arabia's diversification and reform journey

In 2016, Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, a comprehensive plan aimed at growing and diversifying the Kingdom’s economy.

The implementation of the Vision 2030is detailed within 12 dedicated Vision Realization Programs, serving as unique roadmaps for the whole country

The new strategy and developments, as well as the positive fundamentals of the Saudi economy, set an unprecedented opportunity for the investors willing to grow their assets and to succeed worldwide

Saudi Arabia’s multiple growing sectors, such as entertainment, information technology, and financial services, will open new challenges, promising high returns for all investors

02Game-changing opportunities

The government has launched a major privatization program aimed at unlocking state-owned assets and at increasing private investors participation
The localization of the value chain, involving both local and international parties, is another building block of the Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 offering huge opportunities to investors
Large-scale and complex projects, globally unique in scope and ambition, have been also launched, with the aim of transforming the Saudi economy and stimulating the growth of the country

Government initiatives across different areas such as ease of doing business, social and cultural participation, fiscal balance review show the undeniable commitment of the Kingdom in improving the whole business environment

03Integrated infrastructure

Saudi Arabia enjoys a strategic natural location linking three continents, creating a central focal point for all international investors

The Red Sea captures a significant percentageof global trade flows and the largest Saudi seaport on the Red Sea is the second fastest growing in the world making the Kingdom a critical logistics hub for all global trades

Large efforts are already in place to optimize the transportation network, with the final goal of optimizing local facilities and cross-border interconnections, as well as ensuring the highest level of service for the full logistics ecosystem

A key enabler for the realization of the Vision 2030 is the rollout of an efficient digital infrastructure, which requires private sector collaboration on different areas such as telecommunications, cloud computing, high-speed broadband, and digital transformation

04Young and skilled workforce

Saudi Arabia boats a young, energetic population
Education is the Saudi government’s single largest spending item, reflecting the Kingdom’s commitment to investing in the quality of its future leadership

05Expanding quality of life

Saudi Arabia features one of the lowest tax rates in the world with no individual income tax scheme in the country

The Kingdom has also been ranked among the safest countries in the world

Saudi Arabia also offers a high quality healthcare system, with world-class facilities and services

Recent reforms aimed at enhancing the quality of life in the Kingdom have unlocked “first mover” opportunities – facilitating access to previously untapped opportunities across key sectors opening up for investment

06Leading financial sector

Saudi Arabia enjoys a stable monetary system and a well-capitalized financial sector

The average banking sector Tier 1 capital-to-risk-weighted-assets ratio is approximately 18.5% , one of the most robust financial systems worldwide in terms of resilience and capital adequacy

The Saudi stock exchange, the Tadawul, is the largest in the region, with a market capitalization of more than $1.9 trillion USD

The recent regulatory reforms have led to the inclusion of Saudi Arabia’s stock market to the Emerging Market index of leading global index The inclusion is expected to generate up to $17 billion USD of passive and up to $40 billion USD of active capital flows by 2020