Summary
Saudi Arabia plans to gradually reduce government spending as private-sector growth picks up and businesses take the lead, Finance Minister Mohammad al-Jadaan said Thursday. Spending is expected to fall from about 1.05 trillion riyals ($280 billion) this year to 1.02 trillion riyals in 2020, then to 955 billion riyals by 2022, according to a prebudget statement issued by the Finance Ministry Thursday.
That won't mean an early fall in the deficit, with the government of the biggest Arab economy expecting the shortfall to rise to 6.5 percent of gross domestic product next year, compared to 4.7 percent in 2019 .
r 2020 revenue seen at 833 billion riyals versus an estimated 917 billion riyals in 2019 .
r 2019 budget deficit seen at 131 billion riyals, rising to 187 billion riyals in 2020 before falling to 92 billion riyals in 2022 .
r Public debt next year seen at 754 billion riyals versus 678 billion riyals in 2019 .
The IMF just slashed its forecast for Saudi GDP growth this year to near zero from 1.9 percent, according to its World Economic Outlook.
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