The growth of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector has been remarkable in recent years, the product of many years of government-backed initiatives to diversify the country's economy. Since 2000, the growth of the non-oil private sector has averaged 8.1%, compared with 4.3% in the non-oil public sector, according to ratings agency Moody’s. This is good news for the Saudi authorities and comes as a period of sustained lower oil prices looks set to normalise.
More importantly, this momentum is expected to be maintained over the long term. “The non-oil private sector [in Saudi Arabia] should continue to be the engine for growth in the economy, benefiting from elevated government spending as well as corporate lending and solid domestic consumption,” notes a Jadwa Investment research report.
