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Saudi Arabia to borrow over 28.6 billion USD in 2017

Xinhua, December 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Saudi Arabia plans to borrow more than 28.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to maintain the sustainable growth, Al Arabia local TV reported on Friday.

Head of Financial Committee, Mohammed Al Towaijri, highlighted that the Public Debt Management Office has set borrowing criteria, mainly to avoid effecting the financial classification of the country and taking loans with high rates.

He predicted that the international loans might be between 10 to 15 billion dollars and local loans of around 18.6 billion dollars.

The announcement was made a day after the Saudi cabinet passed 2017 budget with predicted deficit of 52.8 billion dollars.

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

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