Saudi to finalise $533m privatisation deals this year – Crown Prince

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince said on Sunday that the government will finalise privatisation deals worth SAR2bn ($533m) before the end of this year, according to an interview with the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

The privatisation drive is part of Vision 2030, a package of reforms led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that is intended to wean the economy off oil and create jobs for young Saudis.

The expected deals will be in sectors that include rain silos, medical and shipping services.

The government will next year offer privatisation projects in the education sector with investments worth around SAR1bn, according to the interview.

The government aims to attract investment into everything from education to sports, a cornerstone of its effort to trim dependence on oil revenues.

Riyadh had previously set a goal of aiming to generate SAR35bn to SAR40bn ($9.3bn to $10bn) of non-oil state revenues from its privatisation programme by 2020. Some of that money would come from asset sales, while the rest would come from public-private partnerships.

But that drive has had some false-starts. The most high-profile was the shelving of proposals to float shares in oil giant Aramco.

The Crown Prince, known as MbS, said the government remains committed to Aramco IPO, expecting it to take place between 2020 and early 2021.

He added that recent Aramco acquisition of a majority stake in petrochemical giant SABIC would help its growth potentials and profitability amid usual oil market volatility.

He said the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF) is playing a major role in the economic diversification process and that its assets has doubled in two years to SAR1 trillion.