Saudi Arabia estimates 2024 revenues at SAR 1.17 tln, expenditure at SAR 1.25 tln

Logo of Ministry of Finance

Saudi Arabia estimated revenues for the 2024 state budget at SAR 1.17 trillion, with a forecast expenditure of SAR 1.25 trillion with an expected deficit of up to SAR 79 billion, the Ministry of Finance said today, Sept. 30.

The 2023 revenues and expenditure are expected to reach SAR 1.18 trillion and SAR 1.26 trillion this year, respectively, with a deficit of SAR 82 billion.

In its pre-budget statement 2024, the ministry added conservative revenue estimates were taken into account given the government’s policy when announcing future revenue estimates.

The government will continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of spending to ensure economic growth and maintain the sustainability of public finance.

It added that proactive structural and fiscal reforms have enhanced the ability of the Kingdom’s economy to thrive amidst global economic challenges and developments. This is evident in the positive economic indicators, which point to continuing GDP growth, improved performance in the non-oil sector, a growing labor force, modest inflation rates compared to global rates and a continuous decline in the unemployment rate.

The following table shows estimated and actual expenditure for the period from 2004-2024:

Key fiscal targets for 2024 and in medium term:

The government continues the transformation phase by continuing to implement structural initiatives, as well as economic and fiscal reforms to achieve the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives. The government adopted a fiscal policy aimed at balancing the exploitation of the available fiscal space to accelerate the pace of implementation of programs and projects that have economic and social returns and that are enablers of achieving the Saudi Vision 2030 objectives.

The budget for 2024 and the medium term reflect the progress made to implement comprehensive structural reforms by accelerating the sectoral and regional initiatives, as well as the programs and projects driving sustainable economic growth and better quality of services.

It is estimated that the budget will realize a deficit of nearly 1.9% of GDP in 2024.