Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's budget figures revealed a deficit of SR30 billion in the third quarter of 2024, according to a statement of the Ministry of Finance. The ministry's data, released on Monday, showed that Saudi Arabia's oil revenues recorded a growth of 16 percent in the first 9 months of 2024 on an annual basis while the growth of non-oil revenues in the first 9 months of this year amounted to 6 percent.

The ministry announced the budget figures for the third quarter of 2024, which recorded total expenditures of SR339 billion and revenues of SR309 billion. The Saudi non-oil revenues amounted to SR118 billion in the third quarter of 2024, while oil revenues amounted to SR191 billion.

The deficit in the first nine months of 2024 amounted to SR58 billion as revenues amounted to SR956 billion while expenditures accounted for over SR1 trillion. The Saudi public debt reached about SR1.158 trillion by the end of September 2024.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Finance's budget report showed that revenues for the first half of the year reached SR647 billion and expenditures stood at SR674 billion, which resulted in a deficit of SR28 billion, equivalent to 35 percent of the estimated for the current year as a whole, which amounted to SR79 billion.

During the first six months of this year, the Kingdom's oil revenues reached SR395 billion, a growth of 10 percent, while non-oil revenues increased by 6 percent, recording SR252 billion, compared to the first half of 2023.

The budget figures for the second quarter of 2024 showed revenues of SR353 billion and expenditures of SR369 billion, recording a deficit of SR15.3 billion. Oil revenues recorded a growth of 17 percent in the second quarter of the year on a quarterly basis to SR213 billion, while non-oil revenues increased by 27 percent compared to the first quarter of the year, recording SR140 billion.

The Kingdom's economy is expected to record a growth of 4.4 percent during the current year and continued to rise in 2025 at 5.7 percent, and by 5.1 percent in 2026.

The Saudi Ministry of Finance also expects the inflation rate to decline during 2024 to 2.2 percent from 2.6 percent in 2023, and to fall below 2 percent in 2026.

The Ministry of Finance said in the preliminary budget statement that the Kingdom expects a deficit of 2.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the fiscal year 2025.

According to the preliminary budget statement, Saudi Arabia expects total spending to reach SR1,285 billion and revenues account for SR1,184 billion in 2025. The Kingdom also expects to record 0.8 percent growth in real GDP in 2024 and 4.6 percent in 2025.