Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said on Monday that the Kingdom will most likely reconsider the value-added tax (VAT) rate when economic and financial conditions improve.

The minister said that the VAT rate will be reconsidered when goals are achieved, including an increase in gross domestic product (GDP), and an expansion of the economy. “I repeat once again that we will reconsider the tax issue when the financial situation improves,” Al-Jadaan said at the Saudi Budget 2022 Forum in Riyadh, Al-Arabiya channel reported. Earlier, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman said that the country’s 15 percent VAT rate is a temporary decision.

Al-Jadaan hinted at privatization of more sectors in future. “This will include sectors such as education, health and sports, in addition to some projects in the Ministry of Interior and the industrial sector. The government’s goal in this regard is to give the private sector all the tasks that it can perform,” the minister told Al-Arabiya.

Al-Jadaan said the new budget methodology does not set future expectations for oil prices. He noted that the classification of budget revenues was changed after the listing of Saudi Aramco.

The dividends of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) for the budget, as obtained by the 2020 budget, were not repeated during the current year, he said while stressing that there is no intention to transfer additional funds from the Central Bank to PIF.

Al-Jadaan noted that the King Salman Park project in Riyadh has been funded from the allocations for Vision 2030 programs in the general budget. A number of other projects such as Green Riyadh and the shifting of King Salman Base are funded through these allocations, which may reach SR70 billion.