Saudi Arabia has finally revealed what life after oil may look like. The world's top oil exporter and Middle East power on Monday unveiled an ambitious plan to
diversify and become one of the 15 biggest economies in the world. Presenting "Saudi Arabia's vision for 2030,"
deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said
the kingdom's huge oil wealth was now holding the country back.

"We have a state of addiction in the Saudi
Arabian kingdom, by everyone, and that's
dangerous. That is what held up many sectors
from developing in the past years," he told Al
Arabiya television in an interview. Under his plan, Saudi Arabia wants to boost non
oil revenues sixfold to $266 billion by 2030, sell
part of national oil company Aramco on the stock
market, and create a $1.9 trillion public fund to
invest at home and abroad.
Oil makes up 87% of Saudi Arabia's revenues and
the collapse in world crude prices since 2014 has
left the kingdom struggling. It has already cut
subsidies and borrowed billions to try to balance
its books.
Saudi Arabian oil is among the cheapest in the
world, costing just under $10 per barrel to
produce. But the kingdom needs to sell it for
about $86 per barrel -- or double the current
world market price -- to keep its budget
balanced, according to International Monetary
Fund estimates.

The IMF expects GDP growth to slow to 1.2% in
2016 from 3.4% last year, and it has warned
that without a major overhaul, the kingdom will
run out of cash in less than five years.
Related: Cheap oil hits Middle East budgets
The vision for 2030 aims to give a much greater
role to the private sector, boosting its share of the
economy to 65% from 40%.

The majority of Saudi nationals -- about 70% --
are currently employed by the government. They
earn 1.7 times more than their counterparts in
the private sector, according to data from Saudi
labor market surveys.

The private sector is dominated by foreign workers
who are not entitled to the same benefits as
Saudi-born workers.
The government now wants to encourage more
Saudi nationals to work for private companies. It
plans to use its sovereign wealth fund to help
develop local manufacturing, technology, tourism
and mining industries.
It also wants to buy many more arms from Saudi
companies, slashing the proportion of military
equipment spending that goes abroad to less than
50%. Related: Saudi Arabia racing to raise cash All this should help tackle a growing youth unemployment problem.

Roughly half of its population is under 25 and the public sector cannot keep creating jobs at the pace required to
secure enough jobs for them. According to the plan, unemployment should fall to 7% in 2030 from 11.6%.

Saudi Arabia has already announced an array of
spending cuts. It slashed subsidies on water and energy, and cut its foreign scholarship program. The new plan also outlines the kingdom's vision to boost tourism.
It wants to attract 30 million pilgrims a year by 2030, up from 8 million.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/25/news/economy/saudi-arabia-oil-addiction-economy-plan/index.html?sr=cnnifb