Saudi Arabia to ramp up investment efforts with $427bn infrastructure plan

Saudi Arabia is seeking to lure in private sector investments worth $427bn (£323bn) in the next decade as part of a plan to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil exports.

Energy minister Khalid al-Falih said yesterday that Saudi Arabia will reveal tomorrow its industrial development plans to attract $427bn worth of investment, in its latest move to diversify the economy and bolster industries such as mining, energy and logistics.

The announcement forms part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s ambitious Vision 2030 agenda, which has sought to empower the role of Riyadh’s private sector.

Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s biggest exporter of oil, has been attempting to reduce its reliance on revenue from crude exports in recent years by cutting bureaucracy and regulations within the private sector. 

Falih said the kingdom would announce projects on Monday worth 70bn riyals that are “ready for negotiations” under its National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP).

The news comes despite a series of recent international setbacks for the Saudi Crown Prince, who has come under fierce criticism after the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country’s consulate in Istanbul in October.

In the latest twist involving Khashoggi’s death, a UN human rights investigator said yesterday that she had made she had made a request to have access to the crime scene in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul and to visit the kingdom, but had yet to have a reply from the Kingdom.