Riyadh - Mubasher: Saudi Arabia is set to have its biggest ever public budget for fiscal year 2018, King Salman said in a speech on Tuesday.
The budget will see the largest spending in the kingdom’s history and will also have a decline in the deficit.
Total public expenditure is estimated at SAR 978 billion ($2.601 trillion), compared to a projected SAR 890 billion for FY2017, however, deficit is expected to slightly shrink from SAR 198 billion to SAR 195 billion.
This comes as another increase in total public revenues is forecasted next year, rising from SAR 692 billion in 2017 to SAR 783 billion in 2018.
According to the King’s speech, the government has changed the target year for eliminating its budget deficit from 2020 to 2023.
King Salman also noted that 12 programs has been launched in line with Saudi Vision 2030, in order to diversify the kingdom’s economy and reduce dependency on oil exports.
It is worth noting that more details are set to be revealed later today.
