RIYADH - Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the current year’s expansionary budget has demonstrated the government’s policy of balancing the (Vision 2030) objectives by strengthening the financial situation and stimulating economic growth, yielding positive results in the path of economic reforms.
He said that the budget deficit declined significantly during the year 2017 compared to 2016 due to the implementation of several initiatives.
The minister made the remarks while addressing a special meeting on “Economic reforms in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030,” in the presence of several officials, academics and economic experts. The Saudi Economic Society had organized the session at InterContinental Hotel on Wednesday evening.
Al-Jadaan said that the vision came as a correction in the economic path at the grass root level. “The vision targets development of several promising sectors such as logistics services, housing, mining, tourism, entertainment, and heavy industries to achieve growth of the non-oil economy in order to boost tomorrow’s economy, in addition to privatization of 10 key sectors,” he said.
According to Al-Jadaan, the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman aims at raising the standard of living of citizens by providing real employment opportunities, improving the level of public services and supporting citizens in the economic transition.
He emphasized the implementation of a package of incentives for citizens in the form of cost of living allowance for state employees, pensioners from the private and public sectors, beneficiaries of social security, in addition to the Citizen’s Account, for which SR32 billion was allocated in the budget of 2018, has stimulated the economy.
In a related development, the Kingdom jumped to 57th place in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, thanks to its ambitious Vision 2030, the Saudi Press Agency reported. “The Kingdom’s ranking advanced five positions, from the position of 62nd in the report of 2016,” Transparency International said in a statement. The Kingdom also advanced one position to the third place at the Arab countries’ level compared to the previous report.
