Saudi Arabia announces guidance budget for 1999

Saudi Arabia on Monday announced its budget for 1999 which set expenditures for the next year at 165 billion Saudi riyals (US $ 44 billion). It estimates revenues at 121 billion riyals (US $ 32.3 billion), leaving a total expected defecit estimated at 44 billion riyals (US $ 11.7 billion).

King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, who presided over the Cabinet's special meeting on the budget, stressed that international economic developments led to a retreat in the oil sector's growth in Saudi Arabia. He noted positive indicators, namely the good performance of the private sector which is expected to witness an increase in its current value by 2.12%. The King added that the non-oil industrial sector achieved a good growth rate estimated at 5.5%.

A statement released by the Saudi ministry of finance said that the actual discrepancy in the state's budget for 1998 increased to 46 billion riyals ($12.3 billion US) over the expected level of discrepancy of 18 billion riyals, due to the drastic decrease in world oil prices.