COUNTRY FOCUS

A quiet revolution in Saudi Arabia has made this lucrative market far more business friendly, writes Janet Tibble

S

audi Arabia is a vast country with a rapidly growing economy. Its population of 25 million is rising sharply

and it has some of the world’s largest construction projects, yet many UK exporters continue to ignore the market. Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia’s

more showy UAE neighbours have attracted all the attention. Trade, investment and tourists have been drawn to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while Saudi Arabia was considered to be a little forbidding in terms of business. Yet the tables are turning. While the UAE has lost some of its lustre in the global downturn, Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Middle East, has been working hard to improve its image. The Kingdom has been identifi ed by the

World Bank as one of the countries that has made the largest strides in making its regulatory environment more favourable to business over the past fi ve years. This is illustrated by its leap from 67 in 2004 to this year’s ranking of 11 in the Doing Business Economy Ranking, a measure gauging the ease of operating in a country. On the political front, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz recently announced Saudi women will be given the right to vote, run in municipal elections and be appointed to the Shura Council. The King has long been pushing for cautious political reforms, but in this conservative country, liberalisation is gradual.

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