Country research
Research on Saudi non-oil activity, public investment, private participation and workforce adjustment.
Non-oil activity includes sectors with different relationships to public demand, energy and household spending. Growth outside oil production does not by itself establish the source of demand or the degree of independence from oil-related income. Research examines those links when assessing diversification.
Public projects and private participation allocate financing, construction and operating risks through specific commitments. An announced private contribution can differ from the public exposure retained through contracts or support. Workforce localization affects firms through hiring, training, wages and the organization of tasks.
| Research dimension | Measure | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Diversification | Real non-oil activity and sector composition | Distinguish production categories from their sources of demand. |
| Projects | Commitments, expenditure and operating assets | Identify guarantees, payment obligations and contingent support. |
| Workforce | Employment, participation and job characteristics | Retain nationality, sex, age and sector classifications where relevant. |
Saudi Arabia's Private Sector Participation Law defines project relationships through functions, duration, risk allocation and performance-linked payments. The IMF's 2025 Article IV assessment examines the associated task of attracting private investment alongside state-led initiatives. Private capital in Saudi infrastructure projects uses that legal and fiscal evidence to distinguish a financing commitment from the transfer of operating risk. Diversification research separately examines non-oil output, public demand and the income channels connecting them.
Economy Study
Saudi non-oil growth can expand private production while retaining links to oil-financed demand. This study separates statistical diversification, customer composition, employment, and external earnings to assess the durability of the expansion.
Read the analysisEconomy Study
Saudi project partnerships combine financing with contractual allocations of construction, demand, and operating risk. This study distinguishes private funding from private exposure and identifies the evidence needed to assess additional investment and public affordability.
Read the analysisPolicy Brief
Saudi public projects can create payment and contingent obligations beyond current budget disbursements. This brief traces guarantees, termination clauses, indexation, and consolidation to distinguish annual cash needs from whole-life fiscal exposure.
Read the analysis6 publications
Economy Study
Saudi non-oil growth can expand private production while retaining links to oil-financed demand. This study separates statistical diversification, customer composition, employment, and external earnings to assess the durability of the expansion.
Economy Study
Saudi project partnerships combine financing with contractual allocations of construction, demand, and operating risk. This study distinguishes private funding from private exposure and identifies the evidence needed to assess additional investment and public affordability.
Policy Brief
Saudi public projects can create payment and contingent obligations beyond current budget disbursements. This brief traces guarantees, termination clauses, indexation, and consolidation to distinguish annual cash needs from whole-life fiscal exposure.
Policy Brief
Saudi workforce-localization measures influence hiring, substitution, training, and administrative counting. This brief examines the 2026 Nitaqat and Qiwa changes while distinguishing higher compliance shares from sustained productive employment and earnings.
Comparative Study
Saudi and UAE diversification measures describe different production, trade, and fiscal boundaries. Official records and an original denominator calculation show why a higher non-oil GDP share does not establish equal diversification of income or public revenue.
Data Note
The non-oil share of nominal output can rise when oil prices fall, even with unchanged production in both sectors. Separate price and volume calculations identify what a structural-diversification claim must establish.
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Browse economiesBrowse topicsAssess the composition of non-oil expansion, project utilization, the allocation of contractual risk and the adjustment of firms and workers. Public and private financing labels need to be connected to who ultimately bears the exposure.
The specific releases, tables and policy documents supporting the analysis are cited in the individual publications.