By Innovation-sa on December 15, 2019 in News
Saudi Arabia announced SR1.02 trillion budget for 2020 with plans to gradually reduce government spending as private sector growth picks up and Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman’s vision of the oil-independent economy shows signs of progress.
The annual budget released by the Saudi government this week forecasts a revenue of SR833 billion in 2020, widening the projected budget deficit to SR187 billion, or 6.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as compared with a projected deficit of SR131 billion in 2019. However, as the economy gains momentum, the deficit is expected to fall to SR92 billion in 2022 according to the preliminary budget outlook.
The government expects a real GDP growth of 2.3 percent in 2020, compared to 0.9 percent forecast this year. Public debt is estimated at SR754 billion this year in comparison to SR678 billion in 2019.
Announcing the budget figures at a cabinet meeting, King Salman said that the Kingdom is determined to continue implementing economic reforms, diversifying sources of income, including investing the proceeds of Saudi Aramco by the Public Investment Fund, optimizing the use of available resources, empowering the private sector and raising the level of transparency and efficiency of government spending to boost overall growth and development rights.
Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that the government would focus more on developing private sector the coming year keeping in mind that enabling the private sector is the top priority of Vision 2030. “We will continue to support big projects and will continue to support promising projects,” he added.
Ahead of the budget announcement, the finance ministry hosted a visit of international investors, underscoring the government’s desire to attract more overseas investment in the slipstream of the world’s biggest IPO.