Riyadh- April 29, 2021:

Saudi Arabia has no plans to introduce income tax and the 15 percent VAT rate is a temporary decision for 5 years, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said in a TV interview. He also spoke on plans to eventually reduce the VAT rate, iterating that the move to increase the rate to 15 percent was a painful decision that he had to undertake.

In a wide-ranging TV interview to mark the fifth anniversary of the Saudi Vision 2030 strategy, the Crown Prince spoke about the Kingdom’s economic plans, developments and achievements made since the launch of Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the Kingdom’s economy without reliance on oil.

The Crown Prince explained figures related to housing policies, legislation and the private sector’s contribution to the Kingdom’s economy, reviewing many economic figures, most notably the growth reflected in the Saudi stock market index.

Speaking of the future, Mohammed bin Salman said “We would launch vision 2040 after achievement of goals of vision 2030. He also revealed that the Kingdom is in discussions to sell 1 percent of state oil firm Saudi Aramco to a leading global energy company. Aramco previously sold a sliver of its shares on the Saudi bourse in December 2019, generating $29.4 billion in the world’s biggest initial public offering.

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