The economist Dr. Fahd Bin-Juma provided some shocking pieces of information that was published in the Okaz newspaper recently.
Bin-Juma wrote, “The five-year development plans that started in 1970 — 36 years ago — were based on wrong expectations and assumptions. These plans did not take into account well-researched planning strategies. In fact, they were not designed according to accurate statistics predicting the challenges facing the Kingdom today.”
Bin-Juma supported his statements by referring to the latest World Bank report, which noted that the weakness in Saudi economic planning is due to the absence of accurate statistics. The World Bank report emphasized the necessity of having accurate information upon which effective economic strategies could be built.
The economist added, “The Economy and Planning Ministry doesn’t rely on accurate statistical figures. That’s why the last seven five-year development plans were chaotic. It’s only natural considering the circumstances.”
However, a source in the Economy and Planning Ministry responded by saying, “The ministry is doing everything possible, but executing the plans is the responsibility of (other) government bodies and the private sector.”
And we all know what the “government bodies” would say in response to the implementation of the ministry’s projects. There are always obstacles and justifications, and perhaps the projects were set aside precisely because of a lack of accurate statistics and so they archived them and decided to use alternative plans.
Everything is possible. In the absence of information and any viable source of scrutiny, whatever Bin-Juma has mentioned does not make a difference or catch anyone’s attention.
Bin-Juma was not addressing a company that had just recently gone bankrupt or a building that was about to collapse, although there are many, but rather he was talking about something greater. The economist was speaking about an entire country whose development plans have been running in the wrong direction for four decades now.
I don’t want to allude to an assumption that developed countries around the world run systems in which such crimes never occur. But it should be noted that people in positions of responsibility in the Kingdom, those that are appointed as judges and investigators and those that deliver punishments are actually themselves in need of interrogation, judgment and reform.
I felt so much pain writing this and started feeling dizzy, and so decided to put my pen aside thinking that there is no solution. But then I realized that the past is past and no one is able to change that. We’re only concerned with the present and what is happening now. So please stop the eighth five-year development plan. Rather we should revise it and prepare it in a much more systematic and practical way. Fundamentally we should try to save whatever we can. We are undergoing a financial prosperity phase that might never happen again. Our humane, historical and religious responsibilities oblige us to make the best out of our present for our future.
