Saudi Arabia has launched a large number of mega projects, including the $500-billion giant city Neom and the 334-sq-km entertainment district Al Qiddiya, as part of its Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy, said a top official of Deloitte, a leading professional services firm.

"A key success factor for Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 will be dependent on whether the kingdom has learnt from previous attempts at economic diversification through other mega projects, such as Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) and Jeddah’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC)," remarked Martin Cooper, the director in financial advisory at Deloitte Middle East.

Deloitte will be putting spotlight on the mega Saudi projects and the kingdom's economic diversification strategy in its Summer 2018 issue of Deloitte’s quarterly publication, the Middle East Point of View (ME POV).

The magazine tackles several other hot topics: from GCC energy reforms, to technology in the Gulf, the changing role of compliance, and the GCC pharmaceuticals industry.

In his article 'Transform KSA,' Cooper has pointed out that the GCC’s national economic plans include mega projects that seek to lessen some countries’ reliance on energy revenues.

"A key success factor for Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 will be dependent on whether the kingdom has learnt from previous attempts at economic diversification through other mega projects, such as Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) and Jeddah’s King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC)," explained Cooper.

With Opec’s decision to raise oil prices, there is the risk of systemic industry reforms being halted but reforms must continue to help shift and sustain healthier GCC energy economies and deliver adjacent national economic plans, noted Salam Awawdeh, the consulting partner at Deloitte Middle East, in the publication.

Ziad Selman, and Khalid Faiq, the assistant financial advisory directors at Deloitte Middle East state in Technology in the GCC that merger and activity (M&A) in the region is also expected to increase as GCC economies recover with increased oil prices.

"If there is one industry that could spur growth in the number of M&A deals in the region, it is technology," the duo stated. "We are witnessing increased digital disruption which will reshape many industries and forces companies to think about how they fit in the overall industry ecosystem," they added.

Hossam Samy, principal, and Disha Rustagi, manager in Risk Advisory at Deloitte Middle East, in their article 'The changing role of Compliance' stated that the pace of regulatory change has created a complex environment for compliance leaders across all industries.

"To ensure adherence to increasingly stringent rules imposed across multiple jurisdictions, banks and financial services companies need to continually calibrate their compliance management function," they added.-TradeArabia News Service