A report issued by “Source Global Research” showed that the size of the consulting market in Kuwait grew by 16% to reach about a quarter of a billion dollars in 2021, specifically 249 million.
The report indicated that Gulf companies spent $3.334 billion on the consulting market in the past year, which is a huge spending, while the Saudi market is the fastest growing and largest in terms of consulting, as it grew at a rate of 19 percent, to reach $1.791 billion, reports a local Arabic daily.
The report stated that the consulting market achieved the best performance in 2021 after a challenging year in 2020, noting that government agencies are making efforts to move forward with investment and economic transformation programs across the region — especially in relation to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia — which has boosted the demand for the consulting market in all respects.
The consulting market in the Gulf states witnessed a rapid return to growth, with revenues increasing by 17.7% in 2021.
As for Saudi Arabia, which is the largest and fastest growing consulting market in the Gulf states, the report stated that, with the support of high oil prices, the government continued its commitment to diversify the national economy in line with Vision 2030.
Investments ranged from high-profile foreign acquisitions such as Newcastle United Football Club to the development of local infrastructure. The government has also taken steps towards building a smart city on the Red Sea coast poised to become an international hub in the future. These impulses have translated into strong growth in strategic advisory, which It will grow by 25% by 2021.
The cybersecurity consultancy market in Saudi Arabia was a particularly bright spot in the market in 2021, with a 30.2 percent growth as clients sought to de-risk their growing digital operations.
The strategy for changing human resources and people has also seen rapid growth of 21.3 percent as clients transform and develop their skills in the workforce in light of the changes required by the global talent shortage.
On the efforts of the Gulf countries to diversify their economies, the report stated that Kuwait and Qatar are still highly dependent on oil, unlike the UAE, which diversified its economy, while Saudi Arabia is also trying to diversify its economy, which was based entirely on oil, with the development of a lot of infrastructure.