Saudi Economy Booms as America Free-Falls into Energy Crisis
Biden does not have much leverage over the Saudis
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Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) boasted a booming ten-percent growth in their oil industry as the American energy industry faces massive price hikes.
The Saudi economy will, of course, complicate President Biden’s efforts to wheedle or cajole more oil out of the Saudis during his visit in July.
Biden does not have much leverage over the Saudis, and they will see no good reason to bring oil prices down by increasing output.
Outside the still-dominant oil industry, the Saudi economy grew by 3.7 percent.
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But Biden’s policies have pushed America to the edge of a recession, and possibly over the edge.
As many Biden critics have argued, the crisis is no accident and is being fueled by a so-called transition to greener energy.
But as America slides, Saudi Arabia is on the accent.
Notebly, Saudi unemployment is still high by U.S. standards due to a very low workforce participation rate.
The topline unemployment rate conceals a huge disparity between men (unemployment rate 5.1 percent) and women (20.2 percent.)
The Saudi’s progress on women in the workforce in March was applauded by the World Bank.
The bank credited them with “unprecedented progress in joining the labor market” thanks to reforms implemented under Saudi Vision 2030.
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“These reforms are already benefiting 6 million Saudi women over the age of 21 and will affect women for many generations to come,” the World Bank predicted.
Since 2019, the workforce participation rate for Saudi women in every age category has grown at a spectacular rate, driven by private-sector employment, not the government hiring women.
Special taxes were levied against foreign workers beginning in 2017, to make the labor of Saudi nationals more cost-competitive.
The Saudis actually import a great deal of fuel oil during hot summer months and these days they are buying millions of barrels of cheap Russian fuel oil flowing through Egypt.
The Saudis worked for years to develop closer relations with Russia, eventually succeeding in bringing the Russians into the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which became known as OPEC+ once Moscow joined in.
OPEC+ agreed to a modest increase of oil output under heavy U.S. pressure in early June – but only because the Russians told the Saudis it was acceptable, Reuters reported.
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