It has evolved from a basic agricultural society into a regional and global economic power with a modern infrastructure. In recent decades the Kingdom has increasingly diversified its economy, and today produces and exports a variety of industrial goods all over the globe. The government has an essential role in industrial and economic development.
The Ministry of Economy and Planning formulates economic and social development plans that set long-term economic goals. Additional sectors of the economy are overseen by individual ministries, such as agriculture, energy, transportation, communications and finance. The private sector is playing an increasingly larger role in the Saudi economy — it now accounts for 48 percent of the gross domestic product GDP.
The sector is expected to continue growing, especially as Saudi Arabia opens its doors further to foreign investment. In December , Saudi Arabia joined the World Trade Organization WTO , a significant development that gives Saudi products greater access to global markets, creates jobs and encourages foreign investment.
When the modern Kingdom was established in , the Arabian Peninsula was an agricultural society that depended on farming and commerce — especially date exports and trade generated by pilgrims coming to Makkah and Madinah. It lacked the infrastructure needed to support the kind of economic growth envisioned by its founder, King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud. The discovery of oil in commercial quantities in changed that.
Soon after World War II, steady oil exports provided the funds to build a basic infrastructure of roads, airports, seaports, schools and hospitals.
