The international interest in the Future Investment Initiative 2018, which was held in Riyadh during the period 23-25 October, reflected the strength of the Kingdom's economy regionally and globally. The last day of the initiative witnessed a panel discussion entitled "Financial Balancing Programs", in which Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Jadaan participated. During the session, Mohammed Al-Jadaan explained that non-oil revenues until the third quarter increased by 48% compared to the same period last year. Government spending up to the end of the third quarter increased by 25% compared to the same period last year, effectively contributing to economic growth. The Minister of Finance confirmed in a press statement the success of the Future Investment Initiative, which witnessed the signing of 25 agreements and memorandums of understanding with a total value of more than 60 billion dollars. He added, "The position reached by the Saudi economy confirms the positive results of the reform measures exerted by the Kingdom's government and the tremendous efforts made to bring the Saudi economy to a comfortable position compared to the rest of the global economies. He added that these steps contributed to the improvement of public financial management and financial discipline, and the gradual reduction of the deficit rates as a result of the success of the implementation of many initiatives to develop non-oil revenues and raise the efficiency of spending and the trend towards growth in capital assets. The Minister of Finance pointed out that the figures showed the size of growth in the real GDP of the Kingdom, as reflected in local and international reports and confirmed by the International Monetary Fund issued in October, where the Fund reviewed its expectations of high rates of growth of the Kingdom's economy in addition to Moody's last credit rating, which indicated confidence in the Saudi economy at A1 with a stable outlook, while raising expectations for Saudi GDP growth for 2018-2019. The Minister of Finance congratulated the Saudi leadership on the occasion of the success of the Future Investment Initiative 2018.
