Royal Vision 2030 to revitalize the pharmaceutical Industry in Saudi Arabia

In mid-2014, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) faced one of the most daunting economic development challenges of its modern history, when crude oil prices collapsed by more than half, our local correspondent writes.

On ascending the throne in January 2015, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud initiated an ambitious socio- economic reform plan, Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which was launched on April 25, 2016, with the aim of reducing KSA's reliance on oil, promote economic diversification and international competitiveness, and development in resource-dependent economics, such as education, health, industry, infrastructure construction, recreation and tourism.

Unfortunately, the economic transformation of the KSA from an oil kingdom to a knowledge-based economy has been hit unexpectedly by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which led to more oil price volatility, global trade disruption, freezing of all economic and social activities within the kingdom, and lowering productivity levels in both government and private sectors, creating uncertainty about the economic future of the vision.