GDP expected to grow by 3.8 percent Complete projects with honesty, integrity: Crown Prince Expenditure: SR580 billion Revenue: SR540 billion Deficit: SR40 billionHighlights Education and training: A total expenditure of SR150 billion, representing a 26 percent share of the budget, and an 8 percent rise on the budget for 2010. Health and social affairs: Total expenditure SR68.7 billion, a rise of 12 percent on 2010. Municipality services: Expenditure totaling SR24.5 billion, a 13 percent increase on the previous year. Transport and telecommunications: Expenditure of SR25.2 billion, a 5 percent rise on the 2010 budget. Water, agriculture and infrastructure: Expenditure of SR 50.8 billion, a 10 percent increase on the previous year.RIYADH: The government announced Monday its biggest budget ever with state spending of SR580 billion for the fiscal year 1432/1433 (2011), an increase of SR40 billion on the previous year, with more than half the figure going on new projects. The budget estimates revenues for 2011 at SR540 billion, leaving a fiscal deficit of SR40 billion. Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, made the announcement on behalf of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, after the budget was approved by the weekly Cabinet meeting Monday. The Crown Prince called for all budgeted projects and works to be fulfilled with “honesty and integrity”. “The budget reflects the King's will to boost the country's development and secure greater job opportunities for its citizens,” he said. “As the entire country awaits the King's safe return to his country and people, all officials should strictly comply with his orders in fully implementing all the projects in the budget.” Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, in a statement to Saudi Press Agency said that Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, briefed the Cabinet on global economic conditions and their impact on oil revenues and state revenues. Al-Assaf said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the current year 2010 would reach an estimated SR1.63 trillion, an increase of 16.6 percent on 2009 due to the 25 percent growth of the oil sector. GDP for the non-oil sector is expected to show growth of 9.2 percent. The government sector is expected to show growth of 15.7 percent and the private sector 5.3 percent at current rates. In terms of fixed prices, GDP is expected to grow by 3.8 percent, the oil sector by 2.1 percent, and the non-oil sector by 4.4 percent. The government sector is expected to grow by 5.9 percent and the private sector by 3.7 percent, with private sector contribution to GDP at 47.8 percent. The minister said that all economic activities constituting the GDP of the non-oil sector have achieved positive growth. The actual growth of the non-oil processing industry is estimated to be 5 percent, communications, transport and storage growth 5.6 percent, electricity, gas and water 6 percent, construction and building 3.7 percent, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels 4.4 percent, and finance, insurance and real estate 1.4 percent. Al-Assaf also said that the cost of living index, the most important indicator of the general level of prices, showed a rise in 2010 of 3.7 percent from 2009, according to estimates from the Department of Statistics and Information. The GDP deflator, the most important economic indicator of inflation in the economy as a whole, is expected to go up by 1.5 percent for 2010. The minister said the volume of public debt will decline by the end of the 2010 fiscal year to approximately SR167 billion, representing 10.2 percent of the projected GDP for 2010, compared to SR225 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year, representing 16 percent of the GDP for 2009.
