Saudi Vision 2030 exceeds PIF targets, but others lag

• ‘Assets under management’ grew
• Home ownership target met
• Foreign direct investment fell

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) exceeded its 2024 target for assets under management by $60 billion, but the kingdom missed other annual goals in its Vision 2030 economic transformation and social development strategy.

PIF now manages about $940 billion of assets, nearly 7 percent above its $880 billion target for the year, according to a Vision 2030 report for 2024.

The kingdom’s 2024 employment target was also met, at 7 percent versus a target of 7.8 percent the report shows.

In tourism, the number of Muslim pilgrims visiting Saudi Arabia’s holy sites for Umrah (the non-mandatory pilgrimage which may be performed at any time of year) also far exceeded targets, at 17 million versus 11 million.

A homeownership target of 64 percent for 2030 was reached and slightly exceeded last year at 65.4 percent, the report shows.

Performance in other areas, however, was less compelling.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) fell in 2024 to $21 billion, down from $26 billion the year before, and well below the kingdom’s target of $29 billion, the report shows. The aim is to raise FDI to $100 billion by 2030.

Saudi gross domestic product was  at $937 billion not far off its $956 billion target but non-oil GDP fell $14 billion short, the report shows.

• Riyadh Air’s launch delay is a blow to Vision 2030
• Saudi Arabia must capitalise on curiosity to grow investment
• Kaizen meets Vision 2030: Japan’s expanding role in Gulf growth

Still, the world’s second-largest oil producer may be on the right track in its transformation strategy. 

In March, data and analytics company S&P Global upgraded Saudi Arabia’s rating to A+ from A, saying that the social and economic transformation strategy is “underpinned by improving governance effectiveness and institutional settings, including deepening domestic capital markets”.

That however was before President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff bombshell, which sent global stock and bond markets reeling, and oil prices plunging. 

The IMF has since revised down its economic growth forecast for most countries around the world, including Saudi Arabia, on the back of lower oil prices. 

Vision 2030 lies at the heart of the Saudi Arabia’s strategy to reduce its reliance on oil, on which it counts for about 60 percent of government revenue, more than 70 percent of exports and about a third of national wealth.

The kingdom needs to create more jobs for a growing and still relatively young population of about 20 million Saudi citizens.