One-and-a-half years of
COVID-19 has turned the national economy
into a captive of the pandemic’s repercussions, which took a toll on the
state’s resources, policies, and financial projections, in addition to increasing
the budget deficit and debt due to greater dependence on local and foreign
lending.
اضافة اعلان
All indicators say that a gradual recovery is underway,
particularly in combating the pandemic. The next few days will certainly offer respite
from the various nightmarish forms of curfew, encouraging the state to prepare
for a post-COVID existence, which will allow for greater collaboration to
achieve a projected 2.5 percent economic growth. This is not a difficult target
if economic sectors go back to functioning normally, especially the tourism and
transportation sectors, and the institutions that work in tandem with them. But
for us to reach the target, the government needs to take preemptive economic
action, as part of a carefully considered plan, focused first and foremost on
supporting the private sector on a number of fronts:
First: To make the most of international aid made available by lending
institutions, such as the World Bank and the European Union, aid should be allocated
to the private sector and overcoming COVID’s aftermath. To do this, the
government must first prepare a comprehensive file of the pandemic’s impact on
the private sector over the past 1.5 years before drafting proposals to
revitalize it and then contacting officials from international bodies to make
use of grants.
Second: The public sector should be reformed to develop its various
departments and attract competent administrative staff, shutting down the
charade started by the public-sector restructuring plan, which pushed out the sector’s
key experts. The Civil Service Bureau’s exclusivity on public-sector appointments
should also be canceled to allow the sector to go back to its state pre-2011.
Third: A bundle of mega projects based on the principle of public-private
partnership and taking bold steps to escape the existing state of overarching
administrative slack should be prepared.
Fourth: A real administrative revolution in the investment process should
be started, which would entail amendments to the Investment Law to boost the
Kingdom’s appeal in the eyes of investors. These amendments must be made in
parallel with the effective development of the Investment Commission, covering
the administrative aspects that enable it to play its role in attracting
investment and facilitating the relevant processes for businesspeople.
Fifth: A campaign
should be launched to promote the national economy and its various sectors,
including tourism, industry, and commerce, and legislation should be drafted to
assist the business environment in attracting capital to the Kingdom. Numerous
funds are now looking for a home and all they need is a roadmap that can be presented
clearly to investors.
The government, and the economic ministerial team specifically,
need to take swift economic action, playing a proactive role through the
preparation of plans and polices for the post-COVID period, as opposed to
standing idly by waiting for surprises and a sharper economic downturn.
Neighboring countries are competing to attract investment and ensure investors
do not have a hard time by providing facilitations and incentives. We can learn
most from Turkey and Egypt whose economic development efforts are en route to
overcoming COVID and its impact.
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