Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reaffirmed that public willingness to change is key to the success of the Kingdom's reform program. "If the people are not convinced, that is a concern. Otherwise, the sky is the limit," he said in a 90-minute interview with David Ignatius, opinion writer of the Washington Post. Prince Mohammed offered detailed explanations about the Kingdom's foreign policy, plans to privatize Saudi Aramco, strategy for boosting investments in the domestic industry, and liberalization of the entertainment sector. Prince Mohammed said that the budget deficit has been reduced, and that non-oil revenue has increased 46 percent in 2016 as against 2014. This is forecast to grow another 12 percent this year. Unemployment and housing are issues of concern, though improvement in these areas is likely between 2019 and 2021. While seeing the five percent Saudi Aramco privatization plan as the biggest economic change, he confirmed that this will be initiated next year. The Initial Public Offering is expected to raise hundreds of billions of dollars and be the largest such sale in financial history. The rationale for selling shares of the Kingdom's oil treasure is to raise money to diversify the economy away from reliance on energy. Commenting on his campaign to bring about social reform, Prince Mohammed said, "I am young. Seventy percent of our citizens are young. We don't want to waste our lives in this whirlpool that we were in the past 30 years, amid the so-called Khomeini Revolution that breeds terror and extremism. We want, as the Saudi people, to enjoy the coming days, and concentrate on advancing our society and developing ourselves as individuals and families, while retaining the respect for our religion and customs. We will not remain in the post-'79 era. That age is over."
