Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 19 November 2017: His Excellency Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance for Saudi Arabia, today announced the Government’s third quarter 2017 budget performance update. The figures revealed progress in a number of areas, most notably: further improvement in revenues, increased efficiency in public spending and further reduction of the deficit. This has been achieved without compromising services provided to the Saudi citizens.
This quarterly budget report is further illustration of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to transparency and financial disclosure, as well as a main factor in delivering Vision 2030. Moreover, this third quarter budget highlights the progress in achieving the objectives of the fiscal balance program within the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030.
The data shows that revenue generation increased year on year, with non-oil revenue rising by nearly 80% across the same period. The Government continued to prioritize expenses that directly benefits its citizens, with education being the single largest sector spend in the first nine months of 2017. Also, these budget figures demonstrate that the Government remains on track to meet its ambitious fiscal objectives for the long-term, including the delivery of a balanced budget.
The financial indicators for the third quarter budget of fiscal year 2017 are as follows:
•Q3 total revenue was SAR 142.1 billion, an increase of 11% year-on-year
• Non-oil revenue was SAR 47.8 billion, an increase of 80% year-on-year, highlighting the feasibility of the economic reforms.
• Expenses was SAR 190.9 billion, an increase of 5% year-on-year.
• The deficit for Q3 was SAR 48.7 billion
• Public debt reached SAR 375.8 billion by the end of Q3, due to successful Sukuk issuances.
The indicators for the first nine months of budget 2017, the numbers are as follows:
• Revenue was SAR 450.1 billion, up 23% year-on-year.
• Expenses was SAR 571.6 billion, up slightly at 0.4% year-on-year, representing 64% of total annual expenses.
• 44% of the budget was spent on health, education and municipal services, giving the priorities to the public services that mostly matter to the citizens.
• The deficit was SAR 121.5 billion, a decline of 40% year-on-year.
HE Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance for Saudi Arabia, said: “Today’s figures show that we continue to move towards our ambitious economic reform objectives for the long term, including the delivery of a balanced budget, we are also on track to achieve our budget projections for 2017”.
Al-Jadaan Continued: “Whilst economic challenges remain, the economic reforms and measures that are set in the Fiscal Balance Program within Saudi Vision 2030 have proved effective, contributing to an increase in non-oil revenues, and we are making progress in creating a stronger and more diversified economy”.
“We were also very pleased to see the International Monetary Fund’s recent report and optimism, in terms of its expectations of medium-term growth - indicating that there is great confidence in the direction we are going, in our long-term financial and economic outlook and in the attractiveness of the Kingdom to major international investors. We have also once again benefited from international bond markets, reflecting both the growing confidence in Saudi Arabia's economy and its strong foundations. The significant international investor interest in our country has been evidenced by the huge numbers who turned out for the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh last month that was organized by the Public Investment Fund”, stated Al-Jadaan.
H.E. Al-Jadaan concluded: “Our third quarterly budget update demonstrates our long-term commitment to increase our levels of transparency and financial disclosure. We know this is vitally important in maintaining the confidence of all our stakeholders if we are to deliver our Vision for the Kingdom.”