Economic updates
Our in-depth, independent reports cover the macroeconomic environment, the Saudi government’s annual budget, and Saudi Arabia’s monetary and financial developments, labor market, and inflation.
Recent CMA annoucements related to Tadawul
A number of major developments have taken place in the Kingdom in the last few weeks underlining the governments commitment to implementing structural economic reform. In April, we saw the unveiling of the Saudi Vision 2030 and, more recently, we saw major changes on a ministerial level. Packed in between all these announcements was an equally important but perhaps less publicized announcement by the Capital Market Authority (CMA), which will have a major impact on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). Whilst some of these amendments focused on loosening previous rules on participation and ownership levels of qualified foreign institutional investors (QFIs), another strand of these reforms introduced new types of trading options and settlement processes, in line with international standards.
Saudi Vision 2030: Placing the Kingdom on a prosperous path
The Council of Ministers recently approved a major and ambitious new Vision for the Kingdom. In this report, we attempt to illustrate the main economic reasons behind having this new Vision by focusing on the “thriving economy” theme. We also highlight the main economic and financial targets as well as the transformative and executive programs specified within this Vision.
The Saudi Economy in 2016
Macroeconomic reportThe Saudi economy will continue to slow in 2016 as the private sector gradually adjusts to the new norm of fiscal deficits and lower spending announced by the government. As oil prices fall year-on-year in 2016, the fiscal deficit will remain in double digits, but the government will push to gradually diversify its revenue base and consolidate its spending. The most recent rise in domestic energy prices represents a trend towards a broader reform in domestic economic policymaking. We expect Saudi oil production in 2016 to remain unchanged, year-on-year, at 10.2 mbpd. Saudi Arabias current strategy of maintaining market share will result in lower levels of oil revenues in the short-term, but will benefit it in a few years time. Despite the lower level of spending outlined in the 2016 Saudi budget we expect the government to continue supporting economic activity despite the prevailing subdued oil price environment.
