Digital tools play an important role in the Saudi Vision 2030, principally as a means of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed plans. Arguably the most salient example is the campaign to digitize traditional government services, which started before the Vision, as in the case of the “Abshir” service provided by the Ministry of Interior for managing immigration and passport affairs.
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Raising female labor force participation from 22% to 30% represents one of the Saudi Arabian government’s goals in its Vision 2030. All advanced economies feature strong female participation in the labor force, as robust economies make use of all available resources, male and female.
The recent success of Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways has concerned global competitors, who have responded with government-mediated complaints alleging of “unfair” assistance from the Gulf governments, such as interest-free loans.
Oil has given the Gulf economies a very unique structure, which complicates comparisons to traditional economies. In particular, hydrocarbon income has played a large role in creating labor forces wherein nationals constitute a minority, a rare occurrence. An additional GCC idiosyncrasy is the small proportion of nationals that perform manual labor in manufacturing plants, despite the large contribution of the industrial sector to the economy (over 50% of GDP), which is primarily driven by petrochemicals. There are several reasons for Gulf nationals’ dislike of manual labor, among them the Bedouin culture, which confers low social status upon those who practice such activities.
In the wake of falling oil prices and regional instability, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are looking for new economic opportunities. Generally speaking, experts encourage economic integration, because specialization in production, and operating in larger markets, constitute two of the most important sources of prosperity. The GCC governments have subscribed to this view for some time, having launched an economic aggrandizement project following the establishment of the GCC in 1981, comprising a free trade area, a customs union, a single market, and plans for a single currency.
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Omar Al-Ubaydli
This is where you can find all my articles, as well as some of my interviews and media mentions Archives
June 2020
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