The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at Al-Safa Palace here today the Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Al-Siniora. The King also received the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf and the Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Hamad bin Saud Al-Sayyari, who presented to the King the 44th annual report of the Agency. The Governor of SAMA delivered a speech in which he expressed his pleasure to meet the King for presenting the annual report which reviews the latest economic and financial developments in the Kingdom. He said that the national economy continued its strong growth in 2007for the fifth consecutive year, noting that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 3.4%. Al-Sayyari added that the role of the private sector in development was strengthened by achieving a growth of 5.8 % , as well as the public sector by 2.7%. The Governor noted that the general finance of the state has witnessed a clear improvement resulting in a surplus of about 12.3 % of GDP for the fifth consecutive year in 2007, indicating that the balance of payments surplus for the ninth consecutive year amounted to about 24.9% of the gross domestic product. --More
