ABSTRACT
Any global strategy of economic development is based upon political choices. Thus, Saudi Arabia is faced with two essential choices: the choice of the level of crude oil production and the choice of the type of economic development. The combination of the assumptions regarding the normal rate of crude oil production and the rate of discovery results in a constant production for export of nine million barrels daily. Non-oil production grows from twenty-eight billion riyals in 1975 to 195 in 2005 at an average annual rate of 6.5 per cent. The dynamic equilibrium of the Saudi Arabian economy is in fact dependent upon the relative values of the domestic absorption rate and the rate of generation of oil revenues. Payments abroad constitute a significant proportion of the gross national product. This situation might lead Saudi Arabia to implement policies aimed at restricting remittances as well as decreasing foreign aid in order to limit monetary and financial leakages.
