Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan confirmed the intention of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to move forward towards promoting economic growth and sustainability while ensuring the achievement of financial sustainability and adopting economic policies targeting the growth of non-oil output, improving the quality of basic services provided to citizens, raising the level of quality of life, supporting housing plans, raising the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending, especially social spending, while continuing to work to enable the role of the private sector in the economy, creating jobs and diversifying investment under the umbrella of the Kingdom's 2030 Vision's goals. This came during a press conference held by the minister today at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Riyadh on the occasion of approving the state's general budget for the year 2020 AD, referring to what was stated in the statement of the state budget of the remarkable growth in various sectors of the economy during the year 2019 as the growth of private non-oil GDP reached 4.3% during the second quarter of the year, confirming that the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques continued to implement its strategic goals to diversify the economic base by creating an appropriate environment for investment in the promising sectors, and continuing to provide a stable economic framework and a favorable investment climate in addition to strengthening the legislative infrastructure, while strengthening the social protection network and empowering the private sector, and raising its contribution to growth and employment in the medium term. The Minister of Finance praised the growth of a number of promising sectors during the second quarter of 2019, as the sector of wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels grew by 5.8%, and the transport, storage and communications sector, which includes logistics and technical services, grew by 6.4%, and in the financial and insurance services sector and real estate growth rate reached 5.4%, while the collective and social services sector, which includes sports and entertainment, recorded a growth of 7.4%, in addition to the growth of the construction sector by 4.9%. Al-Jadaan said, "The year 2019 witnessed the fruits of great efforts made by the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince by government agencies and the youth and girls of the country in enabling programs and Vision of the Kingdom 2030 and providing services to citizens and empowering the private sector to take a greater role in economic development . --More 22:48 LOCAL TIME 19:48 GMT 0042 www.spa.gov.sa/2008993
