JEDDAH, 9 May 2003 — An economic impact study has found that if Saudi Arabia’s continued to cut its piracy rate to 42 percent it could add a possible $700 million to the national economy and create 1,800 jobs.
It could also increase local industry revenues by more than $500 million and generate an additional $11 million in tax revenues. The study was conducted by IDC for the Business Software Alliance.
In 2001, US trade losses in Saudi Arabia due to piracy amounted to over $171.7 million.
But the BSA study shows that there is a substantial decrease in software piracy, making Saudi Arabia a potential leader in anti-piracy activities in the whole of the Middle East.
The study shows a 27 point drop in software piracy between 1996 and 2001, which, coupled with an increased demand for software, has helped Saudi Arabia’s IT sector to grow to nearly $1.8 billion a year. The report estimates that if the Kingdom can achieve a further 10 point reduction to decrease the rate of unlicensed software from the current figure of 52 percent, its IT industry could grow to more than $3 billion over the next four years.
IT and software have thus far proven to be strong economic engines. In the last five years Saudi Arabia cut its piracy rate by 27 points, and demand for new software has helped the Saudi software market to double in size over the same period. Software is a relatively small but growing part of the IT sector, which has added some $883 million to the economy and created 12,000 new jobs between 1995 and 2001.
The Middle East is the world’s fourth biggest unlicensed software market in the world, with the highest rates in Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
