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Saudi 2017 budget attends to financial sustainability

Xinhua, December 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Saudi government announced Thursday its state budget for 2017, saying it would be 33 percent less in deficit than 2016, local news channel Al Arabiya reported.

The Saudi Finance Ministry predicted a deficit of 52.8 billion U.S. dollars for the 2017 budget that would cover new steps to ensure financial sustainability and diversity of incomes, Al Arabiya said.

The government will continue the cost-cutting policy and support the private sector to promote economic growth, it added.

The revenues in 2017 are expected to hit 184.4 billion U.S. dollars, up 31 percent from 2016, while the spending would reach 237.2 billion dollars, only 6 percent higher.

Such improvements in budget can be attributed to the fact that the country is expecting higher oil prices in the international markets. Endit