By Muaath bin Saad
Riyadh-Mubasher: The Saudi government is facing the challenge of getting the local economy out of bottleneck through making it a productive economy, said Economist Mohammed Al-Sabban.
He told Mubasher that some people bet on the Saudi economy, and others expect the kingdom to continue facing a crisis as long as its economy is not productive.
The kingdom faced some economic challenges arising from low revenues and high expenditures, which led gradually to increasing the expected budget deficit for the current fiscal year. The government accordingly was to withdraw from its cash reserve and secure financing locally.
The ratio of the kingdom's public debt to gross domestic product (GDP) is very low.
"These reasons created a state of uncertainty about what the government can do to overcome such an emergency which may continue over the next period," the economic said.
He added that the government took some procedures over the last period, including the postponement or cancellation of some projects as well as starting the privatisation of some utilities to maximise revenues.
Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla
