Ministry of Finance eyes additional savings of SAR 100 bln until 2025

Logo of Ministry of Finance

The Saudi government aims to achieve additional fiscal savings estimated at about SAR 100 billion during the period from 2021 to 2025, the Ministry of Finance said in its 2022 pre-budget statement. 

To this end, the government continues efforts to enhance spending efficiency and achieve fiscal savings by enabling institutions to adopt best practices and supporting them with training, procedures, and incentives to achieve its targets. 

Since the launch of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, the local economy witnessed structural reforms that support the development of public finance management. 

Accordingly, the government gave priority to enhancing spending efficiency and increasing its effectiveness, through drafting a number of targets represented in achieving fiscal savings estimated at about SAR 200 billion by 2023. 

By 2021, Saudi Arabia outperformed these targets, with savings estimated to be more than double, reaching SAR 502 billion from 2018 until the second quarter of 2021. 

In addition, Saudi Arabia is working to raise the percentage of local content participation in government procurement, as well as boosting the percentage of localizing jobs in the asset and utility management sector. This will bring the cumulative number of national cadres who have been employed to about 74,800 employees from a total target of 90,100 until the end of 2021. 

According to data compiled by Argaam, the Ministry of Finance said in its pre-budget statement that Saudi Arabia's revenues for the 2022 state budget are estimated at SAR 903 billion, with a forecast expenditure of SAR 955 billion and a deficit of SAR 52 billion.

Total revenues are projected at SAR 930 billion this year, while expenditure is expected to stand at SAR 1.015 trillion, with an estimated deficit of SAR 85 billion.