Saudi economic pain testing resolve on reforms

Dubai

SAUDI Arabia's drive to reduce the economy's reliance on oil has hit a snag: its reliance on oil.

More than a year after the kingdom's dominant leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, unveiled a blueprint for the post-oil era, the drop in crude prices is making economists more sceptical about whether some of the plan's medium-term targets can be met. The reason: lower oil revenue deprives the government of money needed to balance its books by 2020 while trying to stimulate growth to ease the transition's burden on the population.