International trade and foreign direct investment as growth stimulators in transition economies: does the impact of institutional factors matter?

Saudi Arabia is well known in the world for the holy places Makkah and Madinah. Hajjis and visitors come to perform hajj and Umrah every year in Makkah and Madinah from all around the world. Hajj and Umrah visits play a vital role in the inbound tourism of Saudi Arabia. The tourism revenue of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is increasing absolutely but losing its contribution to the GDP proportionately. So, this paper tries to find out the economic activities of all components of tourism sector which are responsible for the negative trend. It also explains the relationships and variability of tourism revenues and expenditures with GDP and offers suggestions to enhance revenue of tourism sector. This study is based upon secondary data obtained from the website of SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) and General Authority for Statistics of Saudi Arabia. In tourism sector of Saudi Arabia, the increasing trend of expenditures of some economic activities is more than its revenue. The increasing trend of expenditures comparatively its revenues lowering contribution of tourism towards GDP. To improve the level of tourism revenue, government has to provide world class facilities and develop new tourist spots and allow the visitors to visit such places according to the Shariah and Kingdom rules. Government has to focus on developing passenger rail transport and other means of transport to connect all the tourist spots to provide easy conveyance, and on improving and developing tourism sector by helping the government and private organizations that are engaged directly or indirectly in providing services to the domestic and inbound tourists to assure more contribution to GDP.

The article analyzes the influence of inflation on economic growth and substantiates the main directions of increasing the effectiveness of the central bank's anti-inflation policy.
In order to determine the limit of inflation, the excess of which has a negative impact on the economic growth, the relationship is analyzed between the inflation rate and the real GDP growth rate on the basis of IMF statistics using the example of 158 countries. It was determined that in 2010–2017, in the global economy, the 6.0% inflation was the marginal value of the inflation rate, beyond which the economic growth rate declined or slowed down.
Given the inverse relationship between the inflation rate and the real GDP growth rates as well as empirical calculations for the period 1996–2017, the threshold for inflation rate for Ukraine at the level of 4.51% was determined based on empirical calculations for the 1996–2017 period. The results indicate that the National Bank of Ukraine set the inflation target above the level of the calculated threshold inflation.
It has also been established that the link between the rates of nominal GDP growth, as opposed to real GDP, and the inflation rate, is more direct and more tight. It is substantiated that to analyze such dependence it is better to use GDP deflator instead of CPI. The results indicate that deflation constrains economic growth much less than inflation.
In order to increase the effectiveness of the central bank’s pro-cyclical monetary policy aimed at supporting economic growth, the relationship between the rates of real GDP growth and the indicator characterizing the gap between the growth rates of M3 and inflation, which actually reflects the real money supply dynamics, is determined. The results obtained allowed to conclude that in 2009 and 2014-2017, the artificial “squeezing” of the money supply took place in Ukraine, resulting in a decrease in the level of the economy monetization by 22.0% in 2017 compared to 2013.
It has been proved that in order to minimize the negative impact of inflationary processes on economic growth, the policy of the National Bank of Ukraine should be aimed at eliminating the artificial squeezing of the money supply through a reasonable increase in the economy monetization and the implementation of an effective monetary policy.

Tourism is the main service industry significantly developing in the world. It is recognized as the critical factor in economic improvement in various countries. Saudi Arabia is one of the oldest and most famous spots for pilgrimage tourism due to its Islamic heritage. The study analyzes data available on the websites of the Saudi government to specify the contribution of travel and tourism revenue to the economy and its trend, occupancy of residential, and transportation capacity. A tourism satisfaction questionnaire was administered online to get the responses of Saudi nationals and residents related to tourism infrastructure, facilities, and other tourism services in Saudi Arabia. Ranks and percentage analysis were applied to get the relational satisfaction of tourists. Index numbers, ratios, percentages, and coefficient of variations were applied to get the trend, yearly fluctuations, variations, weights, and contribution of tourism avenues. There is a positive but low degree correlation between tourism revenue and the GDP of Saudi Arabia for the period from 2010 to 2018. The results indicate either negative or negligibly positive revenue growth of the accommodation/hotel services, food services, and air transportation. Two-thirds of tourists are either strongly satisfied or satisfied with essential and other tourism services and facilities in Saudi Arabia. Apart from tourist satisfaction, the Saudi government may consider a variety of services as per the economic level of the targeted tourists, and softening of visiting visa procedures and fees to enhance tourism revenue of major contributors for the positive and progressive development to the economy.

Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the Deanship of Scientific Research, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia, for providing financial support to complete this project (Project No: 2020/02/16978).