Saudi Arabia: Riyadh to slash spending in response to lower oil revenues


Issue 1092 - 18 Nov 2019 | 2 minute read

The government is cutting spending by SR569bn ($151.7bn) between now and 2022, but Riyadh will still struggle to hit its goal of a balanced budget by 2023; this is due to sharp falls in expected oil revenues, according to analysts.The sharp cut in spending was first outlined in finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan’s 31 October pre-budget statement. This painted a distinctly mixed picture: output grew by 1.1% in H1 2019 – when the non-oil economy grew by 2.5% – but Jadaan predicted a slowdown in H2 19.

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