Third of Vision 2030 projects ‘completed’ government says

King Abdullah Economic City

• Government report on Vision 2030
• 87% of initiatives ‘completed or on track’
• PIF ‘a major economic driver’

One third of 1,064 planned projects have been completed so far under the Vision 2030 economic transformation plan, the Saudi government said in its annual progress report on the reform programme.  

The report also said 561 initiatives were on track, according to the state-owned Saudi Press Agency, publishing its major findings. It was not clear what definition was being used for measuring the initiative. 

The reforms are spearheaded by giga-projects owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and each one contains many smaller projects. There have been recent concerns about the viability of some projects.

Global property consultant Knight Frank has identified at least 26 giga-projects in western Saudi Arabia and Riyadh.

It valued them at $1.25 trillion in January, but said only $250 billion of them had been commissioned. There are dozens of separate infrastructure projects. 

The government said in December that some projects would be delayed past 2030 to avoid inflation and supply-chain bottlenecks. But Saudi Arabia is now expecting three years of budget deficits, while foreign direct investment is far lower than projections. 

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The Vision 2030 report described the PIF as a major economic driver. 

“Total assets under PIF management have skyrocketed to SAR2.81 trillion ($750 billion), exceeding both the 2023 target of SAR2.7 trillion and a baseline of SAR0.72 trillion. The ultimate Vision 2030 target for PIF assets is SAR10 trillion,” SPA said. 

“PIF is also playing a key role in job creation. In 2023, PIF’s portfolio companies created 93 new businesses, up from 71 in 2022. PIF directly and indirectly generated 644,000 jobs, compared to 500,000 in 2022,” it added. 

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PIF has turned to bond markets to help fund the giga-projects, as well as pressing local banks to maintain credit lines, after cash reserves fell to $15 billion last September. 

The SPA report highlighted a number of metrics as being on target, including home ownership of 53.7 percent, life expectancy of 78 years, extension of health services to 96 percent of population centres, and 62.3 percent of the population doing 150 minutes of weekly physical activity. 

It also cited tourism, the arts and cultural heritage preservation, which it said was “another area of success”, and noted Riyadh is to host the World Expo 2030, a “major win” for “Vision 2030’s focus on international standing”.