Despite worldwide slowdown, especially in the period following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Saudi Arabia has remained among a few countries that marked all-round growth in the past year.
Training of Saudi youths as part of the ongoing Saudization program has been among the highlights of progress. It has made impressive progress especially in both oil and non-oil exports, and other sectors including education, health, agriculture and water, power generation, communications, and banking and finance.
Its exports reached more than SR291 billion while its imports reached SR113 billion. Its volume of trade globally was SR404 billion in 2000, according to SPA and official reports.
The Kingdom, which is committed to providing the best health care facilities to its citizens, has in fact become a specialist center for treatment of several diseases. Its facilities have undertaken successful heart and liver transplant operations. It has set up a specialist center for transplantation of organs that works in coordination with various hospitals.
It has 320 government and private hospitals with 46,840 beds, according to a report of the Ministry of Health. The number of government hospitals reached 189 with 27,826 beds. They are supported by 1,766 primary health care centers.
Government hospitals employ 14,827 physicians, 892 pharmacists, 36,219 nurses and 21,885 paramedics. Physicians working in both government and private health care facilities exceed 31,400, of which Saudis constitute 20 percent. The number of nurses has reached 66,493 and that of paramedics exceeds 36,350.
Some other government authorities like the National Guard, the Ministry of Defense & Aviation, the Ministry of Interior and the universities have also expanded their medical services. Hospitals affiliated to such government bodies employ 7,588 physicians, 857 pharmacists, 17,664 nurses and 9,867 paramedics. There are also more than 708 private dispensaries, 793 private clinics and complexes in addition to 59 private medical laboratories and 3,328 private pharmacies.
Arrangements are under way to operate a number of new government hospitals like the 1,395-bed King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, considered one of the biggest medical facilities in the Middle East. Work is also in progress to carry out the project of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Fahd to build 2,000 health care centers throughout the Kingdom. The MOH has established 25 health institutes and 13 medical colleges, six of them for girls.
The agricultural area in the Kingdom has increased several folds to reach 5.98 million hectares, according to a report of the Ministry of Agriculture & Water for 1999-2000. The unused agricultural land, which is not cultivated so far, amounts to more than 53 million hectares. This increase is attributed to the visionary policies of the Kingdom that has been encouraging farmers and supporting them with incentives such as non-profit loans, granting free lands and buying some of their products to help pricing.
Despite the scarcity of water and large desert areas, as well as assumptions that the Kingdom’s land is unsuitable for cultivation, the Kingdom pursued its determination and successfully executed model development schemes in the field of agriculture. One example of the tremendous progress made in this sector is that the annual wheat harvest has exceeded the needs of the Kingdom that has enabled it to become a wheat exporting country.
According to statistics, the Kingdom has succeeded in achieving a balance between water security and food security, its primary goal being the endurance of sustainable agriculture with diversifying production base. From 1994 to 1999, production of grains declined from 4.86 million tons to 2.46 million tons, and that of vegetables and fruits increased to make the necessary balance in the Kingdom’s agricultural strategy. The area used to produce grains and fodder at the end of 1999 reached nearly 925,000 hectares. The area for producing vegetables totaled 91,000 hectares during the year. It produced nearly 1.9 million tons of vegetables notably tomatoes, potatoes, melons and cucumber. Reports also show a big increase in the production of fruits and poultry.
The cost of meeting the Kingdom’s requirements of electricity services in the next 25 years is expected to exceed SR340 billion. The generating capacity of the electricity companies has increased 18 times over the years. In the first quarter of 1423H, the power generating capacity amounted to 23,730 megawatts. Meanwhile, the number of electricity subscribers has jumped to more than 7.3 million. Saudis constitute 75.7 percent of nearly 30,000 employees working in the electricity sector. Currently, more than 8,266 cities and villages enjoy electricity services. The Ministry of Industry & Electricity has set up a number of training centers that are linked with the electricity companies for training the Saudi youth. In a bid to meet the increasing demand for electricity, steam stations have been set up. The first such station was set up in the Eastern Province some years ago. It includes four units, the capacity of each unit being 400 megawatts. Plans are afoot to set up the second steam station in the province. This new station, expected to complete by the end of 2002, includes four units, and the generating capacity of each unit will amount to 600 megawatts. On the other hand, the steam station of Rabigh, which was set up in 1406H, includes four units. The generating capacity of each unit is 260 megawatts. Arrangements are also under way to set up the ninth power generation station in Riyadh. Through its seven development plans, the Kingdom has accounted for remarkable achievements. It has been able to implement its infrastructure projects and realize significant social and economic development, but these achievements have not been at the expense of its deep-rooted Islamic values.
Statistics speak for the tremendous progress made in the education sector. During the academic year 1422-1423H, the number of students at various institutions totaled 5.3 million. The number of students at Ministry of Education schools now exceeds 2.36 million. They go to 13,849 schools with 189,303 teachers. Female students total over 2.37 million at 14,461 educational institutions with about 228,000 teachers. The Kingdom’s universities and teachers’ training colleges, polytechnic institutions and medical colleges and institutes have over 502,000 students with 20,000 teachers, according to official reports.