World Bank executive stresses importance of Aramco IPO plans

World Bank executive stresses importance of Aramco IPO plans:

Listing Saudi Aramco shares on a public stock market is the “single most important thing” the government could do to continue the pace of reform in the Kingdom, a senior executive of the World Bank told Arab News on Thursday.

Simeon Djankov, director of development economics at the World Bank, was speaking on the sidelines of the Doing Business event in Riyadh, at which it was revealed that the World Bank ranks Saudi Arabia as the world’s most-improved business environment over the past 12 months. 

Djankov said: “An initial public offering (IPO) of Aramco is tremendously important — probably the No. 1 thing that the Kingdom can do, out of anything in the business environment, because this is a huge company, a global company, and everybody knows about it. It has been delayed a number of times and that has given rise to the question of whether it can ever be done.”