JEDDAH, 19 June 2004 — The Kingdom’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by more than 3,500 percent over the past 33 years, from SR20.18 billion in 1970 to SR706 billion in 2003, according to a report by the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
The report, titled “Development Plans, Facts and Figures”, comes in six sections dealing with the Kingdom’s main economic achievements during the period.
An introductory statement by Minister of Economy and Planning Khaled Al-Gosaibi says the publication of the book coincides with a number of important developments in the government departments that resulted in the merger and renaming of some government agencies in addition to transferring powers and jurisdiction of others.
The minister said growth in the non-oil private sector by fixed prices was 4.2 percent in the year 2002 compared to 3.5 percent in 2001. Non-oil exports of goods increased by 5.7 percent in 2002 while the current account in the balance of payments reported a surplus for the fourth consecutive year.
The 428-page report covers industrial growth in focusing on electricity, water, transport agriculture, human resource development including employment, and health and social services.
GDP by current prices increased from SR20.18 billion in 1970 to SR706 billion in 2002, the third year in the Seventh Development Plan ending in 2005.
Overall GDP value jumped from SR156.7 billion in 1970 to SR547.8 billion in 2002. Private sector share during the same period went up from SR54.26 billion to SR342.13 billion while the government share grew from SR25.87 billion to SR124.9 billion. The increase in the oil-gas sector was from SR73.6 billion to SR173.3 billion.
The chapter devoted to the performance of the private sector says the sector achieved an annual growth rate of 5.7 percent on average during the period 1970-2002. This rate exceeds by 1.3 percent the true GDP annual growth rate of 4.4 percent.
Due to the increase in private sector production — put at 4.2 percent — the actual contribution of the sector in the non-oil GPD went up from SR67.7 billion to SR73.3 billion.
The report also highlights the Kingdom’s efforts to establish a broad-based infrastructure. During the first year of the Sixth Development Plan (1995-2000) actual spending on basic installations increased by 16.2 percent to SR68.1 billion.
During the year 2000 investment in the electricity and water sectors reached SR30.8 billion and SR5.3 billion in transport and communications.
Investment in agriculture increased from SR23.7 million in 1970 to SR4 billion. The number of hospitals went up from 74 with a capacity of 9,039 beds in 1970 to 331 with a capacity of 47,242 beds in 2002. The number of students in various levels of education was up from 547,000 to 5.1 million during the same period.
Job opportunities for Saudis were up from 1.24 million in 1970 to 3.52 million in 2002. Social insurance was up from SR39.4 million to SR2.52 billion. Temporary relief assistance was SR489.7 million in 2002.
