Even the most ordinary of changes that occur in the KSA do affect us rather profoundly. The Saudi Kingdom serves as the custodian of Islam’s holiest places. King Salman has taken a number of ‘revolutionary’ steps to enable the Kingdom to be able to stand the vicissitudes of an economy without being underpinned by a sea of petrodollars. MBS followed up immediately by introducing a number of ‘revolutionary’ reforms — in fact a package of four reforms emanating from revolutionary steps being taken on the economic front. He is planning to raise about $100 billion by selling a part of Aramco, $100 billion from the anti-corruption campaign he has launched and another $100 billion by bringing under control the annual budgetary deficits of $50-75 billion by economising on expenditures and withdrawing all subsidies over the next 10 years.

Source: The Express Tribune December 03, 2017 05:15 UTC