In terms of the immediate future, budgetary constraints have necessitated a clear formulation of strategic priorities. For the Government, the highest priorities are likely to be defense, education and health. At the same time, the Government is looking to the private sector to play a much greater role in the industrial and agricultural development of the Kingdom. The infrastructure is in place and the groundwork has been completed for the development and the expansion of Saudi Arabia’s economy. There will be an increasing reliance on private sector investment to achieve further advances.

In the longer term, much will depend on oil. As we have seen, there has already been a remarkable diversification in the country’s economy, but it must be true that the Kingdom’s oil and gas reserves remain its greatest natural asset and its largest single source of revenue.

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