One of the primary structural impediments is the country's deep-seated identity as a rentier state, where the government relies overwhelmingly on external oil export revenues rather than internal taxation and a dynamic private sector. This dependence creates a classic economic distortion: since the state is not financially accountable to its citizens (it doesn't rely on their taxes), it loses the necessary incentive for efficient governance, fostering a top-down, opaque distribution of wealth. This system encourages rent-seeking behavior—the manipulation of the economic environment to capture a larger share of existing national wealth without creating new value—which inherently benefits those with political access, pushing them into the class of the ultra-rich while the rest of society stagnates.
