RIYADH, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Saudi Arabia increased by 331 percent in the last five years, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.

The inflows reached 17.625 billion Saudi Riyals (4.7 billion U.S. dollars) while it was 5.321 billion Saudi Riyals before the launch of the Saudi Economic Vision 2030 in 2015.

The figure was revealed during a meeting of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, highlighting the most important achievements over the past five years after the inception of the vision.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is also the chairman of the council, confirmed that the Vision 2030 programs have addressed structural challenges.

He valued the efforts of all governmental authorities for overcoming many challenges in recent months, praising the experience gained which enhanced confidence in achieving the objectives of the vision.

The council revealed that assets of the Public Investment Fund have doubled to reach approximately 1.5 trillion Saudi Riyals in 2020, while it was about 570 billion Saudi Riyals in 2015.

The council reviewed the performance of the National Debt Management Center, as the center has managed during the past five years since its establishment to support the general budget of the kingdom by approximately 897 billion Saudi Riyals.

The Council also discussed the acceleration in the growth of the non-oil GDP ratio, which reached 59 percent in 2020, compared to 55 percent in 2016.

Non-oil revenues also increased to reach 369 billion Saudi Riyals in 2020, compared to 166 billion Saudi Riyals in 2015, an increase of 222 percent.

Saudi women's participation in the workforce increased to 33.2 percent in 2020, compared to 19.4 percent in 2017.

The Council reviewed the achievements in the field of localizing military industries, as the Vision 2030 programs were able to increase the rate of localization in the sector to reach 8 percent by the end of 2020, compared to 2 percent in 2016.

Meanwhile, for the first time, a program of licenses to engage in military industries activities was launched, whereby 91 local and international companies were licensed, with 142 foundation licenses.

The council also made note of the contributions of the Vision's programs over the past five years towards improving the quality of life in the country via attracting and organizing several international events.

Sports, cultural and volunteer events attracted more than 46 million visitors until 2020. The number of companies operating in the entertainment sector has doubled, exceeding 1,000 and generating more than 101,000 jobs by the end of 2020.

In regard to fighting corruption, the total money recovered by the public treasury following anti-corruption settlements reached 247 billion Saudi Riyals in the past three years, representing 20 percent of the total non-oil revenues, in addition to tens of billions of non-cash assets transferred to the finance ministry. Enditem

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