Saudi Finance Minister Muhammad Al-Jadaan said in an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya channel that the Kingdom’s government aims, through the 2022 budget, not to increase the burdens on citizens and the private sector.
Yesterday evening, Sunday, December 12, 2021, the Ministry of Finance expected, in an introductory statement to the budget for 2022, that revenues would reach 1.045 trillion riyals, an increase of 12.4% from what is expected to be achieved in 2021, with the rise in oil prices, while it was estimated that expenditures would reach about 955 billion riyals during 2022. While continuing to raise the efficiency of spending.
And the Saudi Ministry of Finance expected, in a statement received by Al-Arabiya.net, that the Kingdom would achieve a surplus starting from next year 2022, by about 90 billion riyals, compared to 85 billion riyals, a deficit in 2021, while it is estimated that the volume of public debt will reach 938 billion. Real in 2022.
The Saudi Finance Minister explained that the classification of budget revenues was changed after Aramco was listed, and a new budget methodology was followed that did not set future expectations for oil prices.
Al-Jadaan said, “We do not expect dividends from the investment fund for the budget in the coming years, as the budget received exceptional distributions from the investment fund in 2020, and these exceptional distributions were not repeated in 2021.”
Regarding the distribution of budget surpluses in the coming year, Al-Jadaan said, “In 2022, all the surpluses will go to the reserves, and thereafter the transfer to the Public Investment Fund and the National Development Fund will be considered, and there is currently no intention to transfer from the reserves to the funds, and they have sufficient liquidity to support their projects.”
He said, “We withdrew one trillion riyals from the reserve in previous deficit years, except for borrowing, and we have the Public Debt Management Center that follows up on the issuance of public debt to independent bodies such as the Public Investment Fund. We may take loans to finance some infrastructure projects, while the King Salman Park project is financed from the general budget.”
Al-Jadaan drew attention to the existence of coordination with credit rating agencies, as the rating was not affected by the increase in public debt.
Regarding privatization, the Saudi Finance Minister said that it is continuing and will include the education, health and sports sectors.
