28 January 2015
Is Saudi Arabia's King Salman Up to the Task of Economic Reform?
Ever since its unification as a nation state in 1932, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been an oil-dominated economy. Most improvements and setbacks in its economic and social indicators can be invariably traced to the ups and downs of the oil market.
While that kind of volatility in revenues is unhelpful, dependence on petroleum would not ring too many alarm bells if it was sustainable. But it is not. Oil and the revenues it generates – 90% of all government income – will dry up at some point in the future, and the economy could collapse unless it diversifies.
