Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan stated that the kingdom could save $200 billion over the next ten years by replacing locally used liquid fuels with gas and renewable energy sources, as part of efforts to reduce costs to finance investments. Al-Jadaan said, "One of the initiatives we are about to conclude involves replacing liquids; this program will save the government about 800 billion riyals ($213.34 billion) over the next ten years that can be utilized for investment."
This month, Saudi Arabia signed agreements to purchase electricity from seven solar energy projects as part of a plan to maximize the utilization of the energy mix used in electricity generation. Al-Jadaan mentioned, "Instead of purchasing fuel from global markets at sixty dollars and then selling it to Saudi utilities at six dollars, or using part of our OPEC share to sell at six dollars, we will actually replace at least one million barrels of oil equivalent over the next ten years with gas and renewable energy."
He further noted, "From now until 2025, and possibly until 2030, we will prioritize financial sustainability; we see that to achieve all the goals set by Vision 2030, we need to maintain financial sustainability and control government spending." Vision 2030 is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to develop Saudi Arabia by reducing the economy's dependence on oil and building large new industries and projects in collaboration with the private sector to create millions of jobs.
Al-Jadaan stated, "We have not changed the unemployment target for 2030, but because we have not yet moved beyond the danger stage, it is very difficult to predict the unemployment rate for 2021." He added, "Our goal is to reduce the number so that we end the year at a level lower than it was in 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis, but I cannot say that it will definitely happen."
