Saudi Arabia's vague economic shift leaves huge oil IPO on track

On Saturday the Saudi government said that Saudi Aramco is still on track for its initial public offering planned for 2018. "The IPO process is well underway and Saudi Aramco remains focused on ensuring that all IPO-related requirements are completed on time and to the very highest standards," the Saudi information ministry said. The partial sale of Aramco is part of a massive shift in the Saudi economy, the reason for doing this is to reduce the dependency on oil and diversify the economy. The sale of Aramco is not the only thing that Saudi Arabia is doing to shift the economy. They have already cut some subsidies and announced new taxes which shows they are making progress towards their new economy.

I think Saudi Arabia is making the right decision by trying to diversify their economy. Right now their economy fluctuates based on oil prices. Oil prices have not recovered well enough for the kingdom and the economy is stagnant because of it. "The International Monetary Fund expects GDP growth at just 0.1% this year". If they sell part of Aramco and move towards the economy that they are planning on having, I think it will be very beneficial and the economy would be much more stable.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/10/investing/saudi-economy-revision-aramco-ipo/index.html?iid=SF_LN