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Investment
in Arriyadh
SAUDI ARABIA, THE DOMINANT
ECONOMY IN THE ARAB WORLD
The Opportunities: Key Facts
• The Government has adopted a national transport strategy to
improve the transport sector in Saudi Arabia and is investing more
than $55 billion in public transport over the next eight years.
• The transport sector is growing at an average of ten percent
annually which indicates that there is additional room for investors
to enter the market.
• The Saudi mining industry is in need of consulting engineering
companies and manufacturers and suppliers of mining equipment.
• The Saudi government is encouraging investment in the
manufacturing industry through adopting various incentive schemes
and offering business-friendly regulatory environment.
• The National Industrial Strategy aims at both diversifying and
expanding the manufacturing sector as a percentage of GDP from
11 percent in 2009 to 20 percent in 2020 suggesting there are
additional opportunities for market entry.
• The Government’s policies and legislations enable active
participation, thus promoting investments from local private
equipment suppliers and foreign specialised equipment providers.
• The Government’s vast investment scheme is fuelling the
construction sector. It is estimated that the Government will spend
$400 billion on large infrastructure projects between 2013 and 2018.
• The construction sector recorded a 9.3 percent real growth for
2012 and is expect to continue growing at an annual average real
growth of 5.6 percent between 2012 and 2016. This implies that
opportunities for new market entries exist.
• Saudi Arabia is the biggest consulting market in the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) and it grew by 34 percent in 2012 (year-
on-year). The Government is encouraging foreign participation in
this area, especially from multinational professional service brands.
• The Government has planned to establish four ‘Smart Cities’ with
a total cost of $70 billion . The Saudi Arabian General Investment
Authority (SAGIA) expects the ‘Smart Cities’ to contribute $150
billion to GDP. Information and communications technology (ICT)
solutions and developments are projected to arise benefiting from
government initiatives.
• The ‘National ICT Plan’ aims to increase ICT contribution to the
GDP from 3 percent to reach 20 percent by the end of 2020. This
implies that there are extensive opportunities for new market entries.
The Prophet's Mosque at Al-Madinah
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Breakdown of Saudi arabia
Population in 2014
Total Population: 29,994,272
Non-Saudi
9,723,214
Saudi
20,271,258
Source: Central Department of Statistics and Information:
preliminary results of General Census of Population and Housing, 2014