Saudi Arabia’s government budget spending is expected to reach more than 1.106 trillion Saudi riyals ($295 billion) in 2019, about 7% higher than the projected expenditure for this fiscal year, the Saudi ministry of finance said in a brief pre-budget statement.
The government expects revenues to increase by 11% to 978 billion riyals next year, the finance ministry said, which means it would again run a fiscal deficit to implement spending. It usually issues a more detailed annual budget statement in December.
Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the main thrust of the government in the 2019 budget is the continued implementation of the kingdom’s transformation plan, called Vision 2030, which includes diversification of the economy, boosting non-oil revenue and achieving fiscal balance by 2023.
Jadaan said preliminary economic results and indicators reflect this progress, with GDP growth of 1.2% in the Q1 of 2018, compared to a negative growth of 0.8% for the same period of last year, due to non-oil GDP recovery by 1.6%, compared to negative growth of -0.3% during the same period last year.
"The deficit is expected to continue to decline gradually over the medium term... until it reaches the fiscal balance by 2023," said Saad Alshahrani, head of the finance ministry's fiscal policy department.
Alshahrani added that the government would continue to close the budget gap through "structural reforms," including reassessing government spending and ensuring more Saudi citizens enter the employment market.
