Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, received at Al-Safa Palace here today the 44th annual report of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) which reviews the latest economic and financial developments in the Kingdom. The report was presented to the Crown Prince by the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Hamad bin Saud Al-Sayyari in presence of the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf. The Crown Prince commended the efforts of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency in designing and implementing the monetary policy within the framework of the overall economic policy of the state, wishing the agency all success. The report pointed out 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%. It 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 report 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.
