HIGHLIGHTS
1.The sell-off is a cornerstone of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to bring in fresh revenue and
diversify the economy
2.Privatisation critical to economy in era of cheap crude
3.Sales process will take longer than expected - Saudi banker
DUBAI/RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's $300-billion privatisation programme was billed as the sale of the century when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled his plan to great fanfare. Nineteen months later, it is moving at a snail's pace, bankers, investors and analysts familiar with the process say.
The main problems they cite are heavy bureaucracy, an inadequate legal framework, frequent changes of priority in government departments and fatigue among investors.
Some also blame a wait-and-see approach among many investors due to uncertainty about the fallout from an anti-corruption campaign in which dozens of royal family members , ministers and senior officials were rounded up in early November.
The centrepiece listing of state oil company Saudi Aramco - expected alone to raise up to $100 billion - is on track to go ahead next year, Prince Mohammed told Reuters in October. However, Riyadh has yet to select any exchange Sectors where the privatisation process has been slow include grains, the postal service and healthcare.
"It's going to take longer (than many expected)," a Saudi banker who has worked on transactions told Reuters. "There are headwinds from the shifting of priorities in government and at a micro-level as these are old institutions that have often never kept books and are not up to the rigours of privatisation."