On Sunday, Saudi Arabia approved its budget for the year 2022 without expecting a deficit for the first time since the collapse of oil prices in 2014, while it expected to record a surplus of 24 billion dollars, according to the official media.
And the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) stated that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz “issued a royal decree for the general budget that includes revenues of 1045 billion riyals (278.6 billion dollars) and expenditures of 955 billion riyals (254.6 billion dollars), and the surplus is estimated at 90 billion riyals ($24 billion).”
In a speech reported by the agency, the Saudi monarch said that the adoption of the 2022 budget comes “after the Kingdom has overcome the economic impacts, the exceptional stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Kingdom’s economic breakthrough continues, as a result of economic and financial reforms, in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030,” aimed at diversifying its economy to stop its dependence on oil, which it launched in year 2016.
If expectations are fulfilled, this will be the first time that Saudi Arabia has recorded a budget surplus since 2014, when it recorded a surplus of 206 billion riyals ($54.9 billion) for the last time in the 2013 budget.
The Saudi Ministry of Finance had expected in September that the 2022 budget would include a deficit of 52 billion riyals ($13.8 billion), before the budget was officially approved with this large surplus.
The expected expenditures in next year’s budget, which were announced on Sunday, decreased by 955 billion riyals (about 254.6 billion dollars), compared to expenditures of 1015 billion riyals (about 270 billion dollars) in 2021, while the expected revenues amounted to 1045 billion riyals (278.6 billion dollars). ) up from 930 billion riyals ($248 billion) in 2021.
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