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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
Water tower, Buraydah, Al Qasim
Courtesy Saudi Arabian Information Office
Water from desalination plants, such as that above, helps
supplement limited groundwater.
Courtesy Aramco World
Laboratory technician at work
Courtesy Aramco World
During the 1980s, the government established, virtually from
scratch, a modern industrial sector. The industrialization
process had two goals: first, the use of the kingdom's enormous
gas production as industrial inputs to produce chemicals and
petrochemicals for export and, second, the construction of
energy-intensive industries, some for import-substitution
purposes and others to meet infrastructural needs. The government
also established state-of-the-art industrial cities and
facilities to support its industrial program, including those at
Al Jubayl and Yanbu.
By the early 1990s, the vast majority of these plants had
been completed, and few major expansions were planned.
Infrastructure requirements had largely stabilized and were
adequate to meet the needs of the population and industry for
much of the 1990s. Therefore, the government concentrated on
maintenance and on improving productivity and efficiency.
Moreover, with the onset of serious budgetary constraints, the
government's role in advancing the domestic industrialization
process grew more indirect. The government was forcing a number
of state-owned industrial institutions to seek financing for
their new capacity-expansion programs from nontraditional sources
such as domestic and foreign commercial banks, stock markets, and
private investors. In an ongoing attempt to encourage more
private sector investment in manufacturing, particularly in light
industries, local business received incentives in the form of
production and consumption subsidies.
Data as of December 1992
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