Never before had I seen an audience of Saudis so determined to find a solution to the sad reality of our economy and investment opportunities as I did on Monday, the first day of the Riyadh Economic Forum.

A study conducted by the councils of commerce and industry in the last few years and presented by Suleiman Al-Mandeel was perhaps, as many described it in the forum, “the best study ever conducted about the Saudi economy and the challenges it faces.” But the reality is not pleasant at all. Reading to the hundreds of participants who included businessmen, CEOs, officials, journalists, diplomats, and members of the royal family, Al-Suleiman had the figures projected on large screens. He began by explaining Saudi Arabia’s strengths, which include political and security stability, huge oil and gas reserves, the free economic policy practiced by the Kingdom, and the presence of the Two Holy Mosques and the country’s religious importance.

He then began reading statistics about investment in the country and the reality of the Saudi economy. Some of the statistics he read, were as follows:

• Average economic growth in Saudi Arabia in the past 20 years (1980-2000) has been no more than 1.5 percent, which is even lower than the average growth in developing countries, which stood at 4.9 percent.

• Even though the government invested a lot in the 1980s, its investments in the country declined in the 1990s. The average investment in the country was 30 percent of the GDP in the 1980s, but by 2001 it had nosedived to 18 percent.

• The government spent SR14.1 billion on infrastructure in 1981, whereas 20 years later in 2001, spending is only SR2.5 billion.

• The public debt in Saudi Arabia in 1988 was SR50 billion, whereas in 2002 it stood at SR651 billion.

• A working person in the Kingdom in 1999 supported an average of 5.35 people, whereas in Egypt it was 2.76, and in Venezuela 2.59 in the same period.

• The percentage of savings to the country’s productivity in the period between 1990-1999 was 16 percent, similar to that in Egypt. Malaysia’s percentage is 37.

• Of Saudis who graduated in the last 20 years, only 5 percent graduated in medicine and 6 percent in engineering. Some 66.5 percent graduated in non-scientific majors such as Islamic studies and social studies. These subjects are all but useless in the labor market.

• The percentage of direct commodities from foreign investment in the Kingdom between 1984 and 2000 was a mere SR6.4 billion.

• The Kingdom ranks 68th among countries in terms of openness for investment. Neighboring Gulf countries were way ahead of us. Kuwait came in at 14, and the United Arab Emirates came in at 28.

The study also surveyed hundreds of foreigners who do business in Saudi Arabia. It concluded that 62 percent of the foreigners surveyed in the study said that to go around bureaucracy and strict regulations here they use wasta (using influence or pulling strings). Another 20 percent said they used trickery, and 5 percent said they gave bribes.

Al-Mandeel told the forum audience the statistics were gray. But as a businessman commented: “The statistics are not gray, as Al-Mandeel said: They are black.” I would agree with the comments of a businessman. in the question-and-answer session. “The government has got to change its philosophy,” he said. I would also agree with the governor of the Saudi Arabian Investment Authority that we have more than enough committees.

If the government wants to save the country, it has got to make immediate plans for change and open the doors for foreign investment without using culture as an excuse. Using customs and traditions as a government policy to ban everything is not only getting us nowhere but is making us lag far behind everyone else. The government should also realize that the changes in the world are what shape us, not the other way around. If it starts now, we might be able to save the entire crew of the ship in the next two decades; but if it doesn’t, then come 2023 all a lot of Saudis will be able to do will be to sell water bottles at traffic lights to make a riyal or two.