Transforming Saudi Arabia: The Political Economy of the Middle East

Monica Malik has over 30 years of experience as an economist specialising in the MENA region, especially the Gulf economies and Egypt. Monica is the Chief Economist and heads the Economics team of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB). She established the Economic Research Departments at ADCB and EFG Hermes, and is the main economist covering the Gulf countries. Prior to joining ADCB in 2014, she was the Chief Economist at EFG Hermes, Senior Economist for the MENA region in Standard Chartered (Dubai) and at Dun & Bradstreet (London). Monica writes regularly on economic developments in the GCC, with the reports read by financial institutions, global investors, the regional private sector, and government and international organisations. As a trusted voice on the region, Monica has presented at a number of high-profile conferences and policy round table discussions, alongside appearing regularly on regional and international media and TV.
Monica holds a Ph.D. in Economic Development in the Middle East from the University of Durham, with the thesis on private sector development in Saudi Arabia.

Chapter 1: Charting Saudi Arabia’s journey towards economic diversification.- Chapter 2: Economic development under a rentier state model.- Chapter 3: Making Saudi Arabia: State building, oil and political Legitimacy.- Chapter 4: Vision 2030 and the reform programme.- Chapter 5: Structural and economic developments under Vision 2030.- Chapter 6: Stability of Vision 2030. Funding the transformation plan.- Chapter 7: The way forward.