Writing in SUSRIS, Patrick Ryan provides an overview of the expectations for Saudi Arabia’s upcoming announcement of its fiscal plans for 2015.
Although the price of oil has been high in recent years, “this year is different,” Ryan writes:
“The 2015 budget, expected to be released on Monday, is anticipated to roll back spending to about SR800 ($213) billion. In his remarks Dr. Al-Assaf mentioned Saudi economic planning and the policy of “running counter-economic-cycles so as to benefit from the financial surpluses of the State’s high public revenues to build financial reserves and to reduce the public debt, which gives depth and lines of defense to be taken in advantage in the time of need.” That philosophy was discussed by Dr. Muhammad Al-Jasser, then Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, now Minister of Planning, at the December 2011 U.S.-Saudi Business Opportunities Forum in Atlanta.
