Majed Al-Maymouni Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH – This year's total budgetary revenues are expected to reach SR1.2 trillion, according to prominent Saudi economic experts and financial analysts. They also projected a budget surplus amounting to SR400 billion for 2013. The experts said the new general budget would record a big increase in actual revenues for the current year, and that would be much higher than that of the government's projections. They also noted that the Kingdom's economy is poised to face fallout of unemployment and inflationary trends in the coming year. Noted economist Sultan Al-Jary said that there could be about eight percent increase in the actual revenues and expenditures for 2012 as compared to last year when the projected revenues and expenditures were SR1.15 trillion and SR850 billion respectively. “During 2013, there would be a big surge in revenues, and the expenditures are also expected to go high, and this would eventually lead to a huge surplus of about SR400 billion,” he said. Fadhl Al-Buainain, another expert, said the preliminary estimates for the actual revenues for the year 2012 showed that they would reach SR1.2 trillion. He attributed this mainly to the record high level of average daily production of crude oil in three decades in order to meet the increased global demand and a record level of average crude prices for all through the year. He expected there would be a record increase in the budgetary spending for this year. Buainain underlined the need to get rid of all the public debt, saying “this would help boost the cash liquidity of the local banks so that they can extend more real estate financing as well as funding to private companies.” He also suggested that the surplus wealth would be utilized to diversify investments in various countries instead of focusing on the American market, especially its security market. Meanwhile, Intisar Al-Maleh, another expert, cautioned that the Kingdom should take account of the warning from the International Monetary Fund about the possible return of fiscal deficit to a number of GCC states after two years. He said the major challenges facing the Saudi economy in 2013 would be unemployment and inflation. “The government has to rein in the disturbing unemployment rates especially after halting the monthly unemployment allowance, which is being given to some 1.5 million jobless Saudis who have been registered under the Hafiz scheme. The government has to find out quick solutions to accommodate huge number of unemployed young men and women in the local market,” she said. Meanwhile, a study on “Technical education and vocational training and their suitability to the developmental needs of the workforce,” showed that about 43 percent of those graduated from technical education and vocational training institutes are unemployed while the number of dropouts of these courses ranged between 23 and 53 percent. Job opportunities in this vital sector would exceed five million during the year 2014, the study predicted.
