A Saudi man gestures near a sign at the start of the three-day Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on Oct. 23, 2018. Riyadh is experiencing great difficulty in cultivating a more robust private sector.
With 2019 just around the corner, Saudi Arabia's economic strategists are busy planning the oil giant's budget for the coming year. The outlook for economic growth is good, especially when compared with a year ago. Over the past year, oil prices have been high enough that the desert kingdom has succeeded in narrowing its substantial budget deficit faster than originally planned. Real growth in the gross domestic product hit 1.8 percent in the first half of 2018 — up a full percentage point from the same period of 2017. Non-oil revenue for the first half of 2018 was also up nearly 50 percent year to year from 2017. And spending next year looks like it will be higher than ever.
