RIYADH: The Kingdom aims to double its GDP per capita by the year 2025 and achieve an annual average growth rate in non-oil producing sectors of seven percent. Khaled Al-Qusaibi, Minister of Economy and Planning, said the targets were part of the country's long-term economic strategy adopted in 2005 to bring improvements in the quality of life for all the nation's citizens. Al-Qusaibi said that of non-oil sectors industry had the highest target of 8.1 percent growth, while the strategy aims for 7.4 percent growth in the services sector. The minister gave the figures during his speech at the launch of the two-day Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference in Riyadh Tuesday, which was opened by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf, gathering some 1,000 officials from 40 countries to “explore and explain the new financial landscape and Saudi Arabia's place on the global stage”. Al-Assaf said in his inaugural speech that the media attention to the event and the number of participating officials “demonstrate that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an active economic power and presence on the international stage”. “Financial and economic circumstances in the Kingdom have remained stable, and we have not seen any unusual financial movements despite the unprecedented events in the region,” Al-Assaf said. “The Kingdom has continued with its huge investment programs, including investment expenditure in this fiscal year's budget of SR265 billion.” He said that actual expenditure would “exceed the allocated sum” as a result of decrees issued by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, following his safe return in good health to the country. “The Royal Decrees focus on the most needy sections of society, in housing, soft loans and social welfare, and, for the first time, subsidies for the unemployed,” he said. Al-Assaf said he expected Royal Decree expenditure to have an “additional positive impact” on local economic activities and growth in this and future years. The 6th Euromoney conference – regarded as one of Saudi Arabia's most important financial conferences – is themed this year “Diversification of Sources of Financing”, and Al-Assaf said that it would hold discussions on the “impact of international investors on the Kingdom's economy and how it opens its markets to the world”. Speaking to the press after the inauguration, Al-Assaf said that government investment funds had been extremely active in recent years, citing the Industrial Fund and the Public Investments Fund, as well as the Saudi Credit and Saving Bank which, he said, had increased its resources to SR30 billion and would see a large increase in its activity. The minister described International Monetary Fund predictions that Saudi GDP would achieve growth of 7.5 percent as “optimistic”. “GDP growth is up on last year, but lower than those predictions,” he said. “In the end, it's all just guesswork.” He said the Ministry of Finance is focusing closely on housing projects. “A team has been set up for the bidding, and once that is completed we will immediately begin working on the projects,” he said. The minister said Saudi Arabia is giving considerable attention to the development of human resources and is seeking to facilitate business performance and reduce the costs of economic activity. On the funding of project works, Al-Assaf said that “we have enough resources at the moment”. “We don't need any other resources given the rise in the price of gasoline which is the fundamental factor in the budget,” he said. “We are confident that current resources will cover the needs.” For his part, Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi told reporters that the current price of oil was “fair”.
