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Businessman sees major shift in how Saudis frame their identity
HARDLY a day passes without international news agencies launching sporadic news about Saudi Arabia. There is a war against the rebels in Yemen, an overheated border with Syria, terrorist attacks inside the Kingdom and a 50 percent loss of oil revenue in less than a year.
Abdulrahman Fahd Alharthi, executive chairman of Alpha Ventures, believes there is more to say.
“Yes, all of this is true, but it is only the dark side of the picture. Saudi Arabia is facing the storm firmly and marching forward. Today, we are among the G20 and possess one quarter of the world’s oil reserves. Terrorism is being cornered tightly. They have an economic transformation plan that could be the largest of its own kind. About 60 percent of our citizens are under 30 years of age and they are full of desire and willingness to participate in the changes taking place. Our monetary reserve is sufficient to finance all our imports for four years,” he said.
Alharthi feels that there is a major shift how the Saudis today shall see the influence of oil in framing their identity.
“We no longer want the world to look at us just as an oil tap. At one point of time, we have spread knowledge all over the world and we believe that time has come to restore our natural position as a productive society driven by the knowledge economy and production. We want our young generation to be creative and inventive pioneers, to produce the Facebook, the Tomahawk and Mercedes. We want to bid farewell to the lazy fatherhood type of state. Today we possess oil, but if its alternatives prove to be commercially feasible in the near future, we do not want our grandsons to swear at us. The knowledge economy and production are our future choice and out inevitable battle,” Alharthi said.
He said restructuring of the economy is not the only problem today in Saudi Arabia.
“Like any other emerging countries, we have drug addicts and a worrying unemployment rate. Our education does not meet the aspirations of the work market, nor our ambitions. We have extremists who kill our people with their suicide belts. We also have a detestable sectarianism and our fair portion of discrimination. We have influential people practicing corruption and women who ask to play their expected role in society. On a positive note, none of the above as of today is a phenomenon. These are sensitive issues that the state is aware of and tries to lay down plans to solve and, in addition, invite all, without exception, to participate in the change dynamics,” he said.
With over 20 years of international investment banking experience, Alharthi doesn’t deny the fact that there is a delay by the Finance Ministry in paying contractors and its negative impact on the economy.
“The government already promised to release SR100 billion by year end and already the contractors started to receive some. This delay is resulting from short-term liquidity pressures but the credit profile of the Saudi government is still appealing to creditors as demonstrated by the overwhelming oversubscription of the recent bond issues. The economic reforms have started and they will have good effect. This soon will be followed by a distinguished advancement in the services standards and this we can call the perfect equation,” he said.
Elaborating on the perfect equation, Alharthi said, “Economic reforms without efficient services will not get the consent of citizens. Saudis have been accustomed to free-of-charge services all their life and it is their right to expect better services when this is changing and start sharing the cost of the services. This challenge will be hard in the beginning but with the shared values and beliefs it is achievable.”
In spite of the many mega government projects which have been either canceled or delayed, Alharthi does not think that should trigger lots of worries in the marketplace.
“The projects that have been interrupted or being reconsidered will certainly affect the economic growth in the short term, but this will not shake the general picture or the road map. In the last 10 years we have invested generously the oil revenues to finance many huge projects and the pace of the economic growth has risen outstandingly so much so that we even suffered inflation while the economic engine was working beyond its capacity. Now it is normal to slow down the engine from time to time to take a breath and rationalize,” he said.
“Saudi Vision 2030 is the road map to a better tomorrow. It is a huge and multi-sided project, but not impossible to implement. Today, we have clear goals and objectives that cover all our sectors. Previously, getting into a minister’s office was similar to crossing the Great China wall but today every minister has definite goals, which are made public for the first time. Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is full of energy and is leading this vision on the ground with great enthusiasm,” Alharthi concluded.—
© The Saudi Gazette 2016
