The Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who is also the Second Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence revealed that Saudi Arabia is considering a package of new reforms that will double its non-oil revenues and raise at least $ 100 billion yearly by the year 2020. He also revealed Saudi Arabia’s inclination to introducing a system for residents that is similar to the American green card system which will be another source of revenue for the national economy amounting to billions of dollars.

In a new part of the interview that he had with the global news agency Bloomberg last week that was published yesterday, the Saudi Deputy Crown Prince explained that “quick” government reforms made by Riyadh last year managed to reduce the deficit from $250 billion to less than $100 billion. He added “We did a quick fix in 2015 which increased our non-oil revenue by 35 percent. This year, we’re trying to target over $25 billion. I believe we will succeed in achieving more than $10 billion in non-oil revenue in 2016”. The reforms are expected to raise $100 billion a year by 2020.

On the other hand, Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed that Saudi Arabia has taken many steps to enable women to participate in public life and said that “In King Salman’s time, women were able to vote for the first time and 20 women won in these elections. Women can now work in any sector. In business and commerce, as a lawyer, in the political field and in all sectors. Women can carry out any jobs they want. What is left is that we support women for the future and I don’t think there are obstacles we can’t overcome. We look at citizens in general and women are half of this society and we want it to be a productive half”.