Saudi Arabia posts SAR 27.8 bln budget surplus in Q1 2019

Saudi Arabia reported a budget surplus of SAR 27.8 billion in the first quarter of 2019, the Kingdom’s finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan announced today at the Financial Sector Conference held in Riyadh.

Q1 2019 revenue stood at SAR 245.41 billion, up 48 percent year-on-year (YoY) and expenditure reached SAR 217.57 billion.

Al Jadaan: Government policy to reduce budget deficit to 5.9% from the GDP in 2018 against 9.3% in 2017 was accompanied by an increase in real local GDP by 2.2% #مؤتمر_القطاع_المالي #FSC2019 pic.twitter.com/D6fpFOtPG2

— مؤتمر القطاع المالي | Financial Sector Conference (@SaudiFSC) April 24, 2019

Revenues were estimated at SAR 975 billion and public spending at SAR 1.106 trillion in Q1 2019. The budget deficit was expected at SAR 131 billion in the same period.

Oil revenue grew by 48 percent YoY to SAR 169.09 billion in Q1 2019, whereas non-oil revenue rose 46 percent YoY to SAR 76.32 billion.

Al Jadaan: the economic indicators show an increase in non oil local GDP to 2.1% in 2018 compared to 1.3% in 2017 as well as increase in financial sector, insurance, real estate and business services as the average growth reached 3.3% in five years #مؤتمر_القطاع_المالي #FSC2019 pic.twitter.com/fjwzSIYdnk

— مؤتمر القطاع المالي | Financial Sector Conference (@SaudiFSC) April 24, 2019