The Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlighted the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in boosting world economy in 2011 by increasing its oil production to meet world market needs. Following a meeting between the IMF Executive Council and Saudi Arabia on what was called the 4th article consultations for 2012 held on the 2nd of July 2012, the world leading financial institution said Saudi Arabia has increased its oil production in 2011 on one hand and pumped $15 billion as additional resources in the IMF on the other, contributing to the world stability. A statement issued by IMF said the negative indirect impacts of the disturbances here and there and the eurozone crisis have so far become limited as the high oil revenues in Saudi Arabia were used to accelerate the local development goals as well as to support other economies in the region and outside. The economic expansion rhythm increased in 2011 as the GDP of Saudi Arabia amounted to 7.1 percent and the non-oil economy increased by 8 percent, the highest since 1981, the statement said. The IMF said inflation in Saudi Arabia remained at 5% and new initiatives to tackle critical social issues including unemployment, the provision of soft-loan housing, financing of small and medium businesses were successfully done, increasing the government spending by 20 percent. Despite the increase in spending and the strong growth of imports, the financial and foreign surpluses continued to surge in 2011 due to oil price hikes, the IMF said. The statement added that the growth of monetary accumulations in 2011 and the frog leaping of credit growth due to the expansion of economy are signs that the banking sector in Saudi Arabia is still enjoying high capitals and liquidity with improved profits. The IMF said the executive managers welcomed the efforts exerted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to achieve stability in the oil markets.
