Riyadh: the largest Saudi; budget Marines arrive in Jeddah

The spokeswoman for the American embassy in Saudi Arabia Carol Calin said that the special team of the American Navy troops arrived in the Kingdom yesterday to defend the American consulate in Jeddah which was attacked several days ago.

Calin said that "the security team for fighting terrorism which affiliates to the American navy arrived on Wednesday to Jeddah to consolidate the consulate solidarity. Their task is to enhance the American diplomatic mission security at time of crisis. She added that very often the security teams includes 50 members while the regular navy troops forces which defends the diplomatic missions is smaller in volume.

Meantime, on Wednesday, the Saudi Cabinet approved the largest budget within decades. The 2005 budget which was approved by the Saudi cabinet on Wednesday, supported by standard oil revenues, set the spending at 280 billion Riyals ( USD 75 billion) representing an increase of 40% over the figures of 2004 budget. Senior economists at the SAMBA financial group said that the expected revenues for Saudi Arabia in 2005 can be achieved by setting an oil price of USD 25 for one barrel and a production estimated at 8.8 million barrels daily.

Saudi Arabia has announced a huge surplus estimated at 98 billion Riyals in the budget of 2004 despite the spending increase estimated at 65 billion Saudi riyals over allocations in the budget estimated at 230 billion Saudi riyals to meet extra spending including security measures.