The Vision 2030 plan, he told the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel, would ensure “we can live without oil by 2020”.
Advertisement
“We have all developed an oil addiction in Saudi Arabia and this is unsafe and has hampered development in many sectors during past years”, he told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.
“Only the oil reserves could be worth about $2.5 trillion at $10 oil price, so a valuation of $2 trillion for all of Saudi Aramco is quite cheap”, Danilo Onorino, an energy-focused portfolio manager at Dogma Capital SA, said from Lugano, Switzerland.
Prince Mohammed, a son of the Saudi king who also serves as defence minister and head of the country’s economic council, was giving his first nationally televised interview since his accession past year.
SWFs are used commonly as investment arms for oil-dependent nations seeking to diversify revenue streams, and are among the world’s largest institutional investors.
Oil prices fell today on a report OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia could maintain its total production capacity with the expansion of an oilfield, fuelling fears over the global supply glut.
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Prince Mohammed said taxes on luxury goods and sugary drinks could also be introduced.
The recent talks President Barack Obama held with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and other Arab Gulf leaders in Riyadh may have allayed some of their fears and anxieties about the USA policy towards Iran and also vis-à-vis regional conflicts, especially the war in Syria.
Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet approved on Monday a roadmap, shaping a set of economic reforms for more than a decade, dubbed Saudi Vision 2030, local media reported.
It is also to include major structural reforms, privatisations and efforts to increase government efficiency, the prince said.
“Tensions between the two states are said to revolve around a litany of issues, including renewed calls for release of the 28 secret pages from a 2002 congressional investigation which discuss Saudi involvement, either direct or indirect, in the 9/11 attacks and support for al-Qaeda terrorists”, the analyst stated. Ownership of the remaining stake will be transferred to the Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund founded in 1971, whose assets will grow from the current $5 billion to more than $2 trillion under the prince’s plan.
His removal comes after the government reduced subsidies on electricity, water and other services.
In December, the Saudi government announced a raft of spending cuts and reforms aimed at reducing the budget deficit to approximately $87 billion by the end of this year after the International Monetary Fund warned that the country may run out of cash in less than five years.
Advertisement
The prince said Saudi Arabia has “huge” mining assets it can use to create jobs.
