Riyadh — Mubasher: Most of Saudi Arabia’s top senior executives are optimistic about the kingdom’s long-term economic prospects, Oxford Business Group said in a new survey.

Around 82% of business leaders were confident Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, would manage to accomplish the targets of Vision 2030, intended to diversify the kingdom’s economy and invest more heavily in infrastructure, Arabian Business reported, citing the survey.

The survey also said that 15% of respondents forecast manufacturing to boost the GCC nation’s non-oil growth in the short to medium term, compared to 12% who said tourism.

About 62% of officials gave ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ expectations for the kingdom’s local business conditions over the next 12 months.

In the same vein, four-fifths of business leaders thought Saudi Arabia’s tax climate was competitive or very competitive on a global scale after a year of the value-added tax (VAT) introduction, with less than 10% describing it as uncompetitive or very uncompetitive, the survey found.

Many C-suite executives voiced worry that external factors could affect the kingdom’s economic plans, with 65% identifying regional political volatility as the event most likely to dent the local economy.

“One thing that comes up again and again in our meetings with local businesspeople is the sense of renewed dynamism within the Kingdom, spurred by a large demographic of highly educated young nationals – 70% of the population in Saudi Arabia is under the age of 30. These young people are being reflected at the management level, too,” he said.

On the other hand, a recent report conducted by Jadwa Investment said that Saudi Arabia's economic growth is expected to reach 2% in 2019 on the back of the kingdom’s mega spending budget SAR 1.1 trillion

The oil industry is also projected to see a strong improvement in the kingdom after the inauguration of the Jazan refinery along with the increase in gas production, it added.