Jakarta –
Saudi Arabia has begun reviewing Vision 2030, a major economic diversification agenda launched in 2016. The de facto ruler in Riyadh, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, then deputy crown prince and defense minister, introduced a reform package worth 2 trillion US dollars (around Rp. 33.7 trillion) to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil and transform the economy and society.
Since then, Riyadh has shifted the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter towards technology, tourism and renewable energy. Other focuses include the construction of large-scale mega projects, such as new cities which are seen as capable of changing Saudi Arabia’s image, increasing the role of the private sector, as well as social modernization measures, including expanding women’s rights and increasing their participation in the world of work.
But this week, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan announced adjustments to the reform strategy. In an interview with Bloomberg, al-Jadaan said the government was drawing up a new five-year plan that aims to “redouble the focus on tourism, manufacturing, logistics and energy.”
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This revised approach means some projects will be scaled back, some expanded, and others postponed.
Several Saudi Arabian infrastructure projects have been postponed or cut
Table of Contents
At the beginning of February 2026, the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee announced that the 2029 Asian Winter Games would be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, not at the Trojena ski resort which is still under construction in the mountainous area of the futuristic NEOM project. By 2025, NEOM’s scope has been trimmed: the original plan for two parallel 170-kilometer skyscrapers with a height equivalent to New York’s Empire State Building has now been shortened to 2.4 kilometers.
In late January 2026, construction of The Mukaab, a 400 meter x 400 meter cube-shaped skyscraper planned as the centerpiece of Riyadh’s New Murabba district, was suspended as officials reviewed its funding and feasibility.
Instead, Mohammed bin Salman in October 2025 announced the King Salman Gate project, a new area near the Grand Mosque in Mecca that will add around 900,000 indoor and outdoor prayer spaces.
“Any major project will essentially go through a phase of revision and adjustment in response to broader considerations,” Alice Gower, Director of Geopolitics and Security at London-based consulting firm Azure Strategy, told DW. “Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 targets are ambitious and many of its mega-projects, in particular, could from the start be described as unrealistic.”
Gower added that the combination of global oil prices which are below the level needed for funding, high government spending, and a young population that needs jobs is increasingly burdening state finances.
The Role of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
The revision of the country’s main agenda was driven by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the main investor in Vision 2030 projects. According to a Reuters news agency report in October 2025, the US $ 925 billion sovereign wealth fund is increasing pressure to shift focus from expensive property projects to sectors that promise faster returns in the near future.
PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told journalists in January 2025 that in the next five years the fund would focus on six “ecosystems”, including tourism, urban development, innovation, clean energy and industry.
“The new focus is being directed at internationally oriented projects such as the 2034 World Cup, where the potential benefits for Saudi Arabia are considerable,” said Alice Gower, adding that “these areas also provide opportunities for global audiences to experience Saudi Arabia.”
Vision 2030 reforms were also recommended in a working paper recently published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Continued reform is needed to address structural inequalities and adapt to new priorities, in particular by aligning initiatives with the aspirations of young people,” the report said.
In particular, the report highlights a mismatch between labor market needs and available skills, as Vision 2030’s priority sectors are deemed to have not yet fully utilized the country’s highly educated workforce.
However, as Vision 2030 has entered its tenth year, Saudi Arabia’s younger generation is growing up with the promise of reform, ambition and economic growth.
“Vision 2030’s shift in focus in response to economic challenges is surprising, as many people have linked their careers to the plan’s goals,” said Alice Gower.
However, observers do not expect public outcry over this priority adjustment. Saudi Arabia is often criticized for its poor human rights record and repression of critics. In the last five years, a number of people have been sentenced to decades in prison simply for liking social media posts about human rights. Death penalty executions will also increase in 2025.
Gower estimates that state supervision will be sensitive to signs of dissatisfaction that appear, both on social media and in the public sphere, including regarding revisions to the reform agenda.
Julia Legner, Executive Director of the London-based human rights watchdog ALQST, told DW that “large-scale, top-down initiatives, driven by the PIF and tightly controlled by Mohammed bin Salman, exclude large segments of Saudi society.”
Gender equality in Saudi Arabia “still far from being achieved”
This view is in line with Ahmed Benchemsi, Advocacy and Communications Director for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division.
“In Saudi Arabia, reform and repression were both imposed from above, under strict authoritarian rule,” Benchemsi told DW.
On the surface, the changes appear to be progress. However, on closer inspection, a grimmer reality emerges, he said.
This article was first published in English
Adapted by Rahka Susanto
Editor: Rizki Nugraha
(eng/ita)
date:2026-02-13 03:30:00
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