Saudi’s $19 Billion Stimulus Will Prioritize Housing and Small Business

  • Program includes support for housing construction: minister
  • Commerce Minister Al-Qasabi spoke in an interview in Riyadh
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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Saudi Arabia on Thursday unveiled a 72 billion-riyal ($19.2 billion) program to bolster private-sector growth, with money to support housing construction as well as fee waivers for small businesses, Commerce and Investment Minister Majid Al-Qasabi said.

The package, part of a four-year, 200 billion-riyal stimulus program announced last year, contains 17 separate initiatives the government hopes will result in direct and indirect job creation, Al-Qasabi said in an interview Wednesday in Riyadh. It’s a key component of the kingdom’s Vision 2030Bloomberg Terminal economic-transformation plan, ahead of the 2018 budget due next week.