00:00It's not only the GDP, it's the GDP, it's the inflation that has been put in place, it's around 2%, unemployment in its lowest level, women participation in the workforce is the highest level, and a lot of activities in the micro, small and medium enterprises.
00:19We have seen significant increase in new businesses establishing in Saudi. All of this actually brings a lot more consumption into the economy and more investment, which we are likely to see this in the medium term continuing at this level, and we are quite comfortable but not complacent.
00:38We continue really to reprioritize, rework our policies, making sure that we enhance as we go to ensure that we enable the private sector to lead the economy.
00:49Okay, so feeling good about the outlook for this year, what do you think the biggest risk is right now to the Saudi economy?
00:55I think there isn't one specific risk that I can talk about, but the multiple shocks that we see globally will need to be watched very carefully,
01:07and you need to make sure that your policy is adjusted to deal with these shocks, and if we avoid complacency, which we are very much avoiding, I think we will be in the right track.
01:21It's not free of challenges, the world is the uncertainty world, and you just need to make sure that you build the resilience within the economy to deal with this uncertainty.
01:32So let's talk about the transformation that the Saudi Arabian economy has undergone over the last decade, and there's been lots of talks reporting recently that there's a certain reprioritization of focus that is also taking place as you look ahead to the next five years of Vision 2030.
01:54Walk us through just how those priorities are going to be recalibrated.
01:58I spoke about this, Jovana, before, and the idea is when you have a 15-year plan, you will need to make sure that you adjust these plans as you go, because a lot of things could happen.
02:14And we have seen COVID-19, the inflation, monetary tightening, trade fragmentation, geopolitical tensions.
02:21And on the other side, you have seen a technology revolution that did not exist when we started Vision 2030.
02:30So we need to adjust our plans.
02:32Our North Star is very clear.
02:34We need to diversify our economy.
02:36But the way we go about it is adjustable.
02:40And what we have seen is we have shifted certain projects that we scaled down, certain projects that we actually expanded, certain projects that we put in hold.
02:52Key reason for this is you wanted to make sure that you don't do too much at the same time, because that overheats your economy.
02:59You don't need to do too much at the same time, because your private sector will not be able to catch up.
03:06You need to make sure that your private sector is actually leading these activities.
03:11And you need to ensure that your people are able actually to capture the value that you are bringing into the table.
03:19So reskilling, adjusting your education system, et cetera, that will enable the people to actually benefit.
03:27What are some of the main lessons you learned from the early implementation of the Vision?
03:33A lot has been learned.
03:35I can tell you, ensuring that, A, you have a very aligned government is key.
03:42When we started, there was a lot of efforts to make sure that as a government, you understand exactly what you need to do, and you are aligned.
03:51You coordinate rather than working in silos.
03:54That is very critical.
03:55The second is mobilizing your people.
03:57Unless you talk to your people and explain what you are doing and why you are doing it, and you show them benefits in a very short period of time.
04:06And we have seen that in the women participation.
04:09We have seen that in housing ownership.
04:12These are things that touches people immediately, and they need to see it.
04:15They need to see the benefit and mobilize them so they embrace the change and accept some of the difficult decisions that you need to make throughout this journey.
04:23Are you going to be releasing a formal updated strategy for the next five years?
04:29Will there be a formal plan that's discussed?
04:31Yes.
04:32And where about that?
04:33I mean, we started this week within the government in a wider discussion to basically communicate what is the next five years' plan, which is basically just doubling down on what makes an impact, an execution, and making an impact.
04:53I've said during the budget, our key focus is ensuring that we double down in tourism, we double down in manufacturing and logistics, technology, and ensuring that we provide the basic service.
05:09So they power the energy generally in a wider context, water, and water services.
05:16I want to ask you about the budget deficit forecast for this year.
05:20You're targeting a budget deficit of 3.3% versus 5.3% last year.
05:27If the budget overshoots again, how will you plan to fill that gap?
05:32Would you resort to the international markets?
05:34What we have done is, I think for the last at least four years, we started to publish three scenarios with the budget.
05:42And despite the fluctuation that you have seen last year and the years before, and our revenues, we have not actually been lower than what we – the lower case in our scenarios.
05:55And I don't think this year would be an exception, and we have a plan for it in terms of how we are going to fill the gap, should we reach the stage where we are going to the lower scenario of the three that we have announced.
06:07So I'm not really worried about that.
06:09We announced our debt plan for this year, and we are unlikely to go to the public market with more than what we have announced.
06:19So we are using alternative financing for any additional financing that we may need.
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