Saudi Arabia considering postal privatisation plan
Telecommunications minister Mohammed al-Suwaiyal has announced that Saudi Arabia may be looking to start privatising Saudi Post next year. According to a report published by Reuters yesterday (9 June), the privatisation of the postal system could be a “test case” for a series of state asset sales.
The report said the government was considering setting up a holding company, with a number of subsidiary companies providing services such as mail, courier delivery, e-commerce and financial remittances.
“I cannot set a time frame but I expect by the start of 2017 the picture will be clear and execution starts,” the telecoms minister was quoted saying. The government has yet to decide how much of Saudi Post it will offer for sale, and whether to go the initital public offering (IPO) route.
