Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf has said the government has established two new units in cooperation and coordination with the International Monetary Fund to improve financial planning in the country and to help it cope with the decline in crude oil prices.
Inaugurating the 11th edition of the Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference at Al-Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday, Al-Assaf said: “In late in 2015 and in this year’s budget we have started to gradually implement a fiscal policy in order to reduce the deficit.”
The public finances unit and the public debt unit were established months after Saudi Arabia announced an ongoing deficit in last year’s budget of $98 billion and a deficit expected of $87 billion for this year.
The International Monetary Fund often called on Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf oil producers to adopt austerity economic policies.
The Saudi minister said the government is currently working on the state budget planning and the development of standards to control spending and to diversify revenue collection mechanisms.
Saudi Arabia announced in April an economic vision that aims to reduce its dependence on oil, which constitutes the main source of income.
The vision included the establishment of an investment fund worth $2 billion and to increase dependence on non-oil revenues to $267 billion annually.
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