Riyadh - Mubasher: More than two thirds of Saudi Arabia’s CEOs have expressed a positive sentiment regarding the country’s economy in the upcoming 12-month period, according to a recent report by Oxford Business Group.
As per the report, 70% said that they expected business conditions to be positive over the next 12 months, whilst 24% felt the outlook was negative.
This will no doubt have been helped by higher than budgeted oil prices and therefore a better fiscal outlook, the government settling delayed payments to contractors and the positive feeling the National Transform Programme NTP and Vision 2030 have instilled, the report indicated.
When asked about businessmen’s plans to make capital investments, some 66% of respondents said they were likely or very likely to invest.
“What was particularly interesting was that of these ICT and real estate businesses were the most bullish. The least likely sector to make capital investments were companies in the industrial sector,” the report noted.
When it comes to downsides and specifically exogenous risk, survey respondents overwhelmingly felt that regional security was of most concern, according to 78%, on the other hand, 31% identified the slowdown of the Chinese economy as a significant risk; this speaks to the growing influence this key market has on the Saudi economy and its increasing exposure on the global stage, the report further explained.
