Polls reveal widespread anger in Saudi Arabia over the poor economic situation
An international poll of public opinion in Saudi Arabia exposed the growing public anger over the poor economic situation in light of the catastrophic failure of Vision 2030 promoted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A poll by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revealed that half of Saudis are pessimistic about the “generally bad economic situation in the country,” including 22% who strongly support this statement.
Observers unanimously agreed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman perpetuates the fragility of the investment base and the weakness of economic planning in his decisions regarding the Kingdom’s economy and major companies.
Observers highlight that bin Salman makes random individual decisions, does not rely on strategic studies to confront the Kingdom’s internal problems and ignores citizens.
For example, there are no economic statistics and reports that show the Saudi citizen where the Kingdom is going, and he knows nothing but postponement and anaesthesia, and that what does not succeed in 2020 will succeed in 2025, and if this does not happen, we will wait until 2030.
Despite all the wealth owned by Saudi Arabia and the frequent talk about investments, the Kingdom has been suffering from an unemployment rate of about 12% for seven consecutive years.
It also suffers from a fragile infrastructure for all projects, and poor urban planning, as there are still villages and cities that have not received electricity, and some citizens still think that the Internet is a fantasy.
And the last of bin Salman’s arbitrary decisions is the announcement that the Saudi Public Investment Fund, headed by Mohammed bin Salman, had acquired 4% of the shares of the Aramco oil company, valued at about $80 billion, to support the Fund’s work to diversify the economy.
Bloomberg said that the Saudi government transfered $80 billion from Aramco to the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. The deal is a money transfer from one government pocket to another to obtain financial liquidity.
The agency referred to a statement by Aramco, which says that the deal is a private transfer between the government and the sovereign wealth fund, and Aramco is not a party to the transfer of funds. It has not entered into any agreements or received any transfer proceeds.
For its part, the Saudi Press Agency said that “4% of the shares of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) have been transferred to the Public Investment Fund,” adding, quoting the Crown Prince, that the move is “part of the Kingdom’s long-term strategy aimed at supporting the restructuring of the economy.”
The transfer of shares came after reports of the Kingdom’s intention to sell a small percentage of the giant Aramco shares to a foreign entity.
Bin Salman claimed that “the transfer of these shares is part of the Kingdom’s long-term strategy aimed at supporting the restructuring of the national economy, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and also contributes to supporting the Fund’s plans to raise the volume of its assets under management to about 4 trillion Saudi riyals by the end of 2025.
He added that the company’s shares will “contribute to strengthening the fund’s strong financial position and high credit rating in the medium term, as the fund relies in its financing plan on the value of assets and investment returns from assets under management.”
The Financial Investment Fund aims at the end of 2025 to pump up to one trillion Saudi riyals into new projects locally, according to the Crown Prince. The latter added that the Fund also aims to increase its contribution and its subsidiaries in the local context to reach 60%, in addition to creating more direct and indirect jobs directly into the local labour market.
It is noteworthy that Aramco was listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange in December 2019, after the most extensive initial public offering in the world, which amounted to $29.4 billion, in exchange for selling 1.7% of its shares.
Aramco is the largest company in the Kingdom and the second largest listed company globally. The Saudi government owns it, and it produces 10 million barrels per day under normal conditions.
In this context, identical international reports confirmed that high inflation levels began to exacerbate the crisis of the Saudi economy amid government failure and a severe negative impact of the reality of corruption and reckless investments.
Reuters highlighted that inflation fears began to cast a shadow over the growth of the Saudi private sector, as the purchasing managers’ index for the economy fell to its lowest in three months.
The agency stated that “the level of confidence in future business activity has decreased to the lowest level ever recorded in Saudi Arabia, which indicates a noticeable degree of uncertainty about the possibility of maintaining the rate of production growth in the private sector.”
According to the agency, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index for the entire economy fell to 55.7 in April from 56.8 in March, its lowest reading in three months.
Saudi Arabia’s PMI pointed to another significant improvement in the health of the non-oil sector in April. Still, it also showed the first signs of price pressures affecting customers’ spending decisions.
The growth rate of new orders was the lowest since January, with some panellists citing a drop in sales due to recent fee increases.
Polls reveal widespread anger in Saudi Arabia over the poor economic situation
An international poll of public opinion in Saudi Arabia exposed the growing public anger over the poor economic situation in light of the catastrophic failure of Vision 2030 promoted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A poll by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy revealed that half of Saudis are pessimistic about the “generally bad economic situation in the country,” including 22% who strongly support this statement.
Observers unanimously agreed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman perpetuates the fragility of the investment base and the weakness of economic planning in his decisions regarding the Kingdom’s economy and major companies.
Observers highlight that bin Salman makes random individual decisions, does not rely on strategic studies to confront the Kingdom’s internal problems and ignores citizens.
For example, there are no economic statistics and reports that show the Saudi citizen where the Kingdom is going, and he knows nothing but postponement and anaesthesia, and that what does not succeed in 2020 will succeed in 2025, and if this does not happen, we will wait until 2030.
Despite all the wealth owned by Saudi Arabia and the frequent talk about investments, the Kingdom has been suffering from an unemployment rate of about 12% for seven consecutive years.
It also suffers from a fragile infrastructure for all projects, and poor urban planning, as there are still villages and cities that have not received electricity, and some citizens still think that the Internet is a fantasy.
And the last of bin Salman’s arbitrary decisions is the announcement that the Saudi Public Investment Fund, headed by Mohammed bin Salman, had acquired 4% of the shares of the Aramco oil company, valued at about $80 billion, to support the Fund’s work to diversify the economy.
Bloomberg said that the Saudi government transfered $80 billion from Aramco to the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. The deal is a money transfer from one government pocket to another to obtain financial liquidity.
The agency referred to a statement by Aramco, which says that the deal is a private transfer between the government and the sovereign wealth fund, and Aramco is not a party to the transfer of funds. It has not entered into any agreements or received any transfer proceeds.
For its part, the Saudi Press Agency said that “4% of the shares of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) have been transferred to the Public Investment Fund,” adding, quoting the Crown Prince, that the move is “part of the Kingdom’s long-term strategy aimed at supporting the restructuring of the economy.”
The transfer of shares came after reports of the Kingdom’s intention to sell a small percentage of the giant Aramco shares to a foreign entity.
Bin Salman claimed that “the transfer of these shares is part of the Kingdom’s long-term strategy aimed at supporting the restructuring of the national economy, in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and also contributes to supporting the Fund’s plans to raise the volume of its assets under management to about 4 trillion Saudi riyals by the end of 2025.
He added that the company’s shares will “contribute to strengthening the fund’s strong financial position and high credit rating in the medium term, as the fund relies in its financing plan on the value of assets and investment returns from assets under management.”
The Financial Investment Fund aims at the end of 2025 to pump up to one trillion Saudi riyals into new projects locally, according to the Crown Prince. The latter added that the Fund also aims to increase its contribution and its subsidiaries in the local context to reach 60%, in addition to creating more direct and indirect jobs directly into the local labour market.
It is noteworthy that Aramco was listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange in December 2019, after the most extensive initial public offering in the world, which amounted to $29.4 billion, in exchange for selling 1.7% of its shares.
Aramco is the largest company in the Kingdom and the second largest listed company globally. The Saudi government owns it, and it produces 10 million barrels per day under normal conditions.
In this context, identical international reports confirmed that high inflation levels began to exacerbate the crisis of the Saudi economy amid government failure and a severe negative impact of the reality of corruption and reckless investments.
Reuters highlighted that inflation fears began to cast a shadow over the growth of the Saudi private sector, as the purchasing managers’ index for the economy fell to its lowest in three months.
The agency stated that “the level of confidence in future business activity has decreased to the lowest level ever recorded in Saudi Arabia, which indicates a noticeable degree of uncertainty about the possibility of maintaining the rate of production growth in the private sector.”
According to the agency, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index for the entire economy fell to 55.7 in April from 56.8 in March, its lowest reading in three months.
Saudi Arabia’s PMI pointed to another significant improvement in the health of the non-oil sector in April. Still, it also showed the first signs of price pressures affecting customers’ spending decisions.
The growth rate of new orders was the lowest since January, with some panellists citing a drop in sales due to recent fee increases.
