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The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom's "addiction" to oil and transforming it into a global investment power.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Riyadh would raise the capital of its public investment fund to 7 trillion riyals (US$2 trillion) from 600 billion riyals (US$160 billion) and would sell up to five percent of shares in state oil giant Aramco.
The plans announced by Prince Mohammed also included changes that would alter the social structure of the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom by pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and by offering an improved status to resident expatriates.
"We have developed a case of oil addiction in Saudi Arabia," Prince Mohammed said in a televised interview with al-Arabiya news channel, adding that Riyadh needed to cut its dependence on revenue from crude.
The part privatization of the national oil company Aramco was also central to the plans, and Prince Mohammed said it would be transformed into an energy company that he valued at more than $2 trillion, and that up to 5 percent of it would be listed on the stock market.
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