Saudi Arabia is redrafting its National Transformation Plan (NTP), launched in 2016 to lead the kingdom’s ambitious economic reform programme until 2020, according to a report in the Financial Times.

According to the report, some key areas planned to be reformed under NTP will be removed from the plan and the implementation timeline for other targets will be extended to 2025 and 2030. The government has been working on amendments for the plan since July, according to the report. Some of the reforms that had been under the NTP have now been moved to other programmes.

The decision to amend the programme and delay some of the timelines may be seen to confirm reports of concerns from within the kingdom’s business and planning circles that the goals of the NTP were too ambitious to achieve by 2020.

Key aims of the NTP include strengthening partnerships with the private sector, creating more than 450,000 non-governmental jobs by 2020 and maximising local content and reducing dependence on imports.

The amendments to the NTP are not expected to impact on the planned initial public offering (IPO) of state oil major, Saudi Aramco. Riyadh is planning to sell 5 per cent of the oil company to the public in 2018.