Saudi Arabia’s industrial sector has seen nearly 1.2 trillion Saudi riyals ($320 billion) of investments since the launch of Vision 2030 economic transformation scheme in 2016, the Gulf Kingdom’s industry and mineral resources minister said.

In his address at the ‘Industrial Transformation Saudi Arabia 2025’ conference in Riyadh on Monday, Bandar Al-Khorayef said the number of industrial units surged by 65 percent to more than 12,000 in 2025 from around 7,200 at the start of Vision 2030.

The increase in manufacturing units boosted the Kingdom’s non-oil exports to a record high of SAR515 billion ($137 billion) in 2024, Al-Khorayef said in his address, broadcast by Saudi Arabia’s Alikhbariya TV.

The exports last year were nearly 13 percent over their level in 2023 and around 113 percent compared with the non-oil exports at the start of Vision 2030, he added.

“Now there is a plan to convert more than 4,000 factories in Saudi Arabia to smart industrial facilities that rely on automation and modern technologies,” the minister said.

Al-Khorayef said last month that nearly $500 billion would be invested in new industrial projects to boost the total number of manufacturing units to 36,000 in 2035 with the national industrial strategy launched by the world’s largest oil exporter in 2022.

In a report early this year, the Saudi chambers federation said industrial projects in the Kingdom have jumped by nearly 54 percent over the past five years following the introduction of more incentives to investors.

It said the increase boosted the industrial sector’s contribution to GDP from around SAR392 billion ($104.5 billion) in 2019 to SAR592 billion ($158 billion) in 2024.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, is striving to ease reliance on volatile oil export earnings with an emphasis on the industrial sector.

(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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