Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Saudi government announced on Tuesday its budget for 2021, with approved spending amounting to 990 billion Saudi riyals, or about 263 billion dollars, with revenues estimated at 849 billion riyals, or 226 billion dollars, and a deficit of about 141 billion Real, or about $ 37.5 million.
The Saudi Minister of Finance and Economy, Muhammad Al-Jadaan, said in a press conference after the announcement that his country’s budget for the next year aims in the medium term to “continue spending on major projects, vision realization programs, and the system of support and social benefits, and stimulus packages.”
Al-Jadaan also stressed the role of the Public Investment Fund in improving the Saudi economy, as spending on Vision programs will continue in 2021, which will contribute to achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s 2030 vision for the year 2030, and “continue to work to provide more opportunities for the private sector to participate in these projects.” .
In his statements, Al-Jadaan touched on the issue of raising the value-added tax, saying that there are no plans to reconsider the issue of added tax in the short and medium term. Last May, the Kingdom raised the value-added ratio from 5% to 15% last July, as part of austerity measures to confront the repercussions of the spread of the Coronavirus.
The minister said in his statements that the positive indicators witnessed by the sectors in Saudi Arabia at the end of this year indicate that the Saudi economy has begun to recover from the effects of the Corona pandemic, especially with “a positive rebound in employment rates during the third and fourth quarters of 2020.”
