The challenge for Saudi Arabia is to ensure that the non-oil economy expands at sustainable levels to help create jobs for graduates. Fayez Nureldine/AFP
The challenge for Saudi Arabia is to ensure that the non-oil economy expands at sustainable levels to help create jobs for graduates. Fayez Nureldine/AFP

Business

Saudi Arabia on track to diversify economy

Privatisation must be accompanied by action on unemployment

Mahmoud Kassem

August 22, 2017

The road to change is never easy. Though Saudi Arabia has hard work ahead, it has embarked on new initiatives and continues to widen the scope of existing plans to transform the kingdom's economy away from its energy reliance towards a more diversified economy that includes a mix of industries, a manufacturing base, an ecosystem that encourages entrepreneurship and innovation among its emerging youth.  

The kingdom may net 80 billion Saudi riyals (Dh68.36bn)next year from various forms of taxation that it plans to levy, including a GCC-wide 5 per cent value added tax, an excise levy on tobacco and energy drinks, and a tax on luxury goods, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia announced that it plans to privatise its airports in order to lessen the government's exposure to activities that can be more efficiently run by the private sector. It will also help shift jobs from the public sector to the more competitive free market.

Saudi Arabian airports are key to receiving millions of pilgrims that visit Islam's holiest sites. The kingdom would like to position itself as a transport hub and expanding its facilities is a welcome move.

Saudi Arabia's ambitious plan to sell off a 5 per cent stake in Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producing company, will be a litmus test for the implementation of other reform and privatisation initiatives.  

The stakes are high for the country, given the oil supply glut and collapse of crude prices over the past three years. The government will need to be resolute in the implementation of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s vision. That commitment should not waver even though oil prices have rebounded somewhat.


The Institute of International Finance said the country's economy is forecast to contract 0.4 per cent in 2017, before advancing 2 per cent in 2018. It also pointed to an increasing unemployment rate that can benefit from a strong recovery in non-oil growth. 

The challenge for Saudi Arabia is to ensure that the non-oil economy expands at sustainable levels to help create jobs for graduates and keep up with the pace of a fast-growing population.

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes. 

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours.