RIYADH: Outsourcing by businesses in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach $5.7 billion by the end of 2027 thanks to a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10 percent, according to a new report. Research by the Boston Consulting Group in collaboration with Forward MENA, previously known as Beirut Digital District Academy, believes the Kingdom is now a “hot spot” for job outsourcing, and is rising as a strategic hub where entities can easily outsource parts of their value chains and source-in talent from third parties. Key growth sectors in this area include financial services, manufacturing and telecommunications. “Turning key strengths into enabling tools for a fully diversified future, Saudi Arabia has set ambitious yet achievable targets, which express long-term goals and expectations and reflect the country’s strengths and capabilities,” said Leila Hoteit, managing director and senior partner at BCG. She added: “Its Vision 2030 reflect 11 Vision Realization Programs and large-scale transformation projects such as Giga projects like NEOM, Qiddiya, and Diriyah Gate all point towards vast outsourcing opportunities in the years to come.” The report says that total spending by Saudi Arabia-based organizations when it came to outsourcing services from local and offshore providers was estimated at over $2.3 billion in 2018. This is set to rise to $5.7 billion in 2027. In terms of the Kingdom’s future economic outlook, three job clusters were highlighted to help drive long-term strategies, which in turn signal strong growth potential for job outsourcing. These are infrastructure management services, such as cloud engineers and cybersecurity analysts; software and applications development, that include software engineers but also application developers; and finally, data and artificial intelligence, for data scientists and blockchain developers. The report added that Saudi Arabia’s talent pool supply for outsourced jobs comes mainly from local service providers, India and neighboring Arab countries such as Egypt, as well as the US, China, and European countries for more sophisticated jobs.