	saudi businessmen to discuss private sector saudi arabian business leaders assembled for a conference aimed at thrashing out problems facing the private sector of the kingdom s oil dependent economy the meeting of some top businessmen from across saudi arabia comes at a time of guarded optimism in industry and commerce following the opec pact to boost world oil prices the four day conference in this resort town high in the mountains above the tihamah plain stretching to the red sea has been organised by saudi arabia s chambers of commerce finance minister mohammed ali abal khail and commerce minister suleiman abdulaziz al salim will attend the first day bankers and businessmen said the conference will air problems facing commerce and industry after last year s slide in oil prices and examine ways to promote higher investment in a private sector sorely short of finance government planners have long recognised that saudi arabia the world s largest  exporter needs to foster private enterprise to diversify its oil based economy the fledgling private sector was hard hit by the middle east recession as early as and several big manufacturing and trading companies ran into problems repaying loans renewed optimism this year stems largely from the accord reached by opec last december to curb oil output and boost prices to a benchmark level of dlrs per barrel with oil prices recovering saudi arabia went ahead at the turn of the year with long delayed budget plans incorporating a billion riyal deficit to be bridged by drawing down foreign reserves the simple act of publishing a budget restored a measure of confidence to the business community some share prices have risen by more than pct since last november while banks are generally reporting a slowdown in the number of new non performing loans but not all bankers are convinced one senior corporate finance manager in riyadh said banks are still reluctant to lend there is certainly more optimism in the air but i am not sure if it is firmly based some businessmen and bankers point out that government spending is still under tight control and the non oil economy may still be contracting capital expenditure on large projects has been cut sharply a u s embassy report on saudi arabia published just before the budget said while industrialisation has continued to be one of the government s highest priorities the recession the payments problem and the lack of financing have reduced saudi and foreign investor interest in industry it is the lack of fresh investment that is expected to be a major issue among the businessmen gathered here official figures show the number of new licences for industrial ventures fell pct in the six months to march compared with the same period in lending by the saudi industrial development fund a major source of industry backing has fallen steadily since trading companies have also been hit some caught with huge inventories of construction equipment as recession bit some firms laid off workers and cut bloated inventories others have effectively been liquidated a few have reached agreement with bankers to extend debt repayments the latest rescheduling is for the shipping to hotels conglomerate redec its negotiators have just initialled a draft accord to restructure payments on billion riyals of bank debt bankers and businessmen said the conference was also likely to discuss the apparent reluctance of u s and british firms to step up investment in the kingdom a british government delegation has just left riyadh after holding preliminary talks on ways of offsetting the huge saudi outlay on a defence contract to supply fighter aircraft worth five billion stg reuter 
