Economics
Saudi Economic Pain Will Test Resolve of Prince’s Reform Push
- IMF cuts Saudi GDP forecast to 0.1 percent from 0.4 percent
- Saudi economy had contracted in first quarter this year
Saudi Reforms Tested by Stalling Growth
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Saudi Arabia’s drive to reduce the economy’s reliance on oil has hit a snag: its reliance on oil.
More than a year after the kingdom’s dominant leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, unveiled a blueprint for the post-oil era, the drop in crude prices is making economists more skeptical about whether some of the plan’s medium-term targets can be met. The reason: lower oil revenue deprives the government of money needed to balance its books by 2020 while trying to stimulate growth to ease the transition’s burden on the population.