Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has approved new rules that will allow for full foreign ownership of retail and wholesale operations

The new rules, which were initially announced last September, are being put in place as the kingdom looks to attract more foreign investment amid low oil prices.

The plans to allow foreign ownership of retail and wholesale businesses is also understood to be part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan.

in early June, Saudi Arabia’s Council for Economic and Development Affairs (Ceda), the kingdom’s supreme body overseeing its economic diversification efforts, approved the National Transformation Plan (NTP), which followed the Vision 2030 announcement.

Saudi Arabia wants to increase its non-oil government revenues to $1 trillion by 2030, and see the contribution to GDP made by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reach 70 per cent.