| With modern telecoms infrastructure and investor-friendly regulations in place, the kingdom is in a better position to restart its economy after the pandemic.
The reset of the global economy gives us pause, as governments rethink priorities, companies reboot and people reconsider what is really important.
The coronavirus may have stopped the global economy in its tracks, but it also offers a lens to forward-thinking companies and countries to see the crisis as an opportunity to bring in new innovations and technologies to turbo-charge growth for the post-coronavirus economy.
A key trend that has emerged during the crisis is people’s reliance on the Internet, communications and technology infrastructure. Countries with strong telecom and technology platforms have been able to fare better than countries that are lagging in networking capacity.
Saudi Arabia has been moving swiftly to boost its ICT capacity even before the crisis, but the pandemic will likely sharpen focus on 4th industrial revolution technologies. Technologies such as 5G, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, telemedicine and remote computing, and networking will likely become more popular long after the lockdown eases.
Another key aspect of the crisis is that there is a discount on strong assets and profitable projects, and governments are willing to be more accommodating to attract investments once the crisis is over. Saudi Arabia, once again, should find itself in a strong position to rebound quickly as it has already initiated a number of reforms and revised legal and regulatory frameworks to attract investors.
Expect authorities to accelerate the Saudi Vision 2030 programme as it already outlines some of the key issues that the virus has taught us: the importance of developing a strong diversified economy, boosting investments in high-valued industries, creating robust logistics networks, developing a world-class ICT infrastructure and creating a skilled workforce for the 21st century.
The 2030 blueprint already shows the path to growth and prosperity post-coronavirus. |
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