Water, Agriculture and Infrastructure Sector: a- Expenditure amounts to SR 22.5 billion. b- Total cost of new projects: SR 18 billion. c- New projects include water, sewage, and desalination projects amounting to SR 13 billion. In addition, the budget includes projects in the two industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu, agricultural projects, and flour mill projects. 6- Specialized Credit Development Institutions and Government Financing Programs: As mentioned earlier, the resources of some development funds will be replenished namely: Saudi Credit Bank, the Real Estate Development Fund and Saudi Industrial Development Fund to enable them to increase their lending programs. These specialized Development Institutions as well as Public Investment Fund and Agricultural Bank will continue to provide credits to projects and services in the areas of Industry, Agriculture, and major infrastructure projects. The aggregate amount of loans approved in year 2005 amounted to SR 22.5 billion. Also, the new budget includes appropriations for the special lending programs of private universities, colleges, and schools. In 2005, SR 300 Million of loans were approved. Economic Developments in 2005: 1- Gross Domestic Product: GDP is projected to grow in 2005 by 22.7 per cent in current prices and by 6.54 per cent in constant prices, reaching SR 1, 152.6 billion and 767.7 billion in current and constant prices respectively. Private sector GDP is projected to grow in 2005 by 6.7 per cent in constant prices. The non-oil Industrial sector is estimated to grow by 8.4 per cent, construction sector by 6 per cent, electricity, gas, and water sector by 4.9 per cent, and transport, communication sector by 9.9 per cent, and wholesale, retail, restaurants, and hotels by 6.2 per cent. 2- General Price Level: Inflation, as measured by the cost of living index, is estimated to have increased by 0.4 per cent in 2005, while the non-oil GDP deflator has shown an increase of 1.14 per cent. --MORE 2130 Local Time 1830 GMT
