Saudi PIF to invest $266bn into new projects by 2025
PIF Governor adds that more than 400,000 direct and indirect job opportunities created between 2017 and Q2 2021
Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, has revealed plans to invest up to $266 billion into new projects by 2025.
PIF Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan, during a speech at the Saudi Budget Forum said that the PIF has been instrumental in creating more than 400,000 direct and indirect job opportunities between 2017 and the second quarter of 2021, a report from Saudi Gazette said.
Saudi Arabia is expected to post its first budget surplus in nearly a decade next year, as it plans to restrict public spending despite a surge in oil prices, the report said. After an expected fiscal deficit of 2.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, the Kingdom estimates that it will achieve a surplus of $23.98 billion or 2.5% of GDP in 2022 – its first surplus since it went into a deficit after oil prices crashed in 2014, it added.
“The fund continues to achieve its goals for 2025, which are to pump $266.5 billion into new projects, and the volume of assets under management to reach $1 trillion,” Al Rumayyan said.
The goals also include contributing to raise the non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) to $319.8 billion cumulatively, and to increase the contribution of the fund and its subsidiaries in local content to reach 60%, in addition to creating direct and indirect jobs in the local market, he added.
Al Rumayyan said that PIF’s strategy focused on 13 local strategic sectors based on an assessment of the local perspective. “A total of 47 companies have been established since 2016 in many strategic sectors,” he added.
A group of companies affiliated with PIF had signed development contracts worth more than $3.46 billion, he stated, adding that this represents more than 70% of the value of the contracts of the Red Sea Development Company, which were awarded to Saudi companies.
He pointed out that Roshan Company, which is affiliated with the Fund, signed strategic partnerships with a group of Saudi companies to develop its first district in Riyadh.
The King Abdullah Financial District Company also signed contracts worth $2.66 billion to complete the work and activate the centre while Qiddiya Company signed contracts worth $1.46 billion, and that includes the initial infrastructure works and the development of the first entertainment destinations, he concluded.
