thirds of CEOs interviewed in Saudi Arabia by the global research and consultancy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG) for a new survey said they felt positive about prospects for the coming 12 months, despite the significant changes taking place across the country's economy. As part of its inaugural Business Barometer: Saudi Arabia CEO Survey, OBG asked high-level executives from across various industries a wide-ranging series of questions aimed at gauging business sentiment. The findings from these face-to face meetings are now available to view on OBG's Editors' Blog. According to OBG's results, 70% of executives surveyed said they expected business conditions to be positive over the next 12 months, with 24% describing the outlook as negative. However, over 70% of construction company' bosses interviewed felt negative about the coming 12 months, signalling that topical issues, such as higher utility tariffs and costlier expatriate labour fees, together with uncertainty about the Kingdom's project pipeline, continue to give cause for concern. In response to a separate question, 66% of respondents said they were likely or very likely to make an investment in Saudi Arabia over the same timeframe, with ICT and real estate businesses among the most bullish. On the issue of skills shortages, business leaders identified research & development, leadership and engineering as three areas with significant gaps. In terms of downsides, 78% of respondents cited regional security as their biggest concern. OBG's Editor in Chief and Managing Editor for the Middle East, Oliver Cornock, said news in 2016 of the two major policy initiatives — the National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030 — together with rising oil prices and a raft of reforms had undoubtedly helped to boost business sentiment in the Kingdom. "After a year of big-ticket announcements, 2017 was always going to be difficult, but as OBG's Business Barometer: Saudi Arabia shows, it's far from all doom and gloom," he said. "These are undoubtedly uncertain times of transition for the Saudi economy, but it is increasingly apparent that the private sector, which is expected to play a much greater role in the economy in the future, remains broadly optimistic." Cornock's in-depth evaluation of the survey's results can be found on OBG's Editors' Blog, titled ‘Next Frontier'. All four of OBG's regional managing editors use the platform to share their expert analysis of the latest developments taking place across the sectors of the 35+ high-growth markets covered by the company's research. The OBG Business Barometer: CEO Surveys mark an addition to the Group's extensive portfolio of research tools. The full results of the survey on Saudi Arabia are available online and in print. Similar studies are also under way in the other markets in which OBG operates. This survey has been designed to assess business sentiment amongst business leaders (Chief Executives or equivalent) and their outlook for the next 12 months. Unlike many surveys, the OBG Business Barometer is conducted by OBG staff on a face-to-face basis, across the full range of industries, company sizes and functional specialties. The results are anonymous. OBG Business Barometer is based on data from companies with revenue within the following parameters, among others: 96% of companies surveyed were private 28% of companies surveyed were international 51% of companies surveyed were local The data generated allows for analysis of sentiment within an individual country, as well as regionally and globally. Additionally, comparisons can be drawn between both individual countries and regionally. The results are presented statistically within infographics and discussed in articles written by OBG Managing Editors. — SG
