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RIYADH / AGENCIES
Saudi Arabia released a 2018 state budget on Tuesday that is the largest in the kingdom’s history, as it slowed an austerity drive to support flagging economic growth. The kingdom will boost spending in an attempt to boost economic growth as the government enters a critical 12 mo-
nths for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to prepare the kingdom for the post-oil era.
The kingdom plans to boost spending to 1.1 trillion riyals ($293 billion) compared with 926 billion riyals in 2017, according to the Finance Ministry. Non-oil revenue is expected to rise to 291 billion riyals from 256 billion riyals, with total receipts up 12.5 percent to 783 billion riyals, according to the ministry’s figures.
The government expects the budget deficit to narrow to about 7.3 percent of gross domestic product from almost 9 percent this year.
After two years of austerity measures prompted by the collapse in oil prices, officials are shifting attention to growth as they try to balance the need to rebuild state coffers while avoiding crippling private businesses. A return to growth could make it easier to push major elements in the prince’s long-term plan in 2018: the introduction of value-added taxation and selling a stake in state-run oil giant Aramco to help create the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.
This year the kingdom “found it appropriate to move to a more optimistic scenario†in its fiscal planning, Economy Minister Mohammad Al Tuwaijri told a news
conference in Riyadh.