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Tuesday 03 Nov 2015 - 11:09 Makkah mean time-21-1-1437
(Image from AP)
Manama, (IINA) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that his country's financial deficit this year is manageable despite the low oil prices, and the Kingdom’s economic growth rate and financial health will stay strong, Arab News reported.
Al-Jubeir’s remarks came during a panel discussion at the 11th Manama Dialogue Summit, which concluded in Manama on Sunday. The three-day conference focused on the political, security and economic issues of the region.
On Friday, Standard & Poor's (S&P) cut its ratings for Saudi Arabia’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit by one notch to "A-plus/A-1", citing a “pronounced negative swing” in the government’s budget balance. The Kingdom’s Finance Ministry described S&P’s decision as reactionary.
“We are on the tail end of a huge infrastructure development program in terms of airports, roads, hospitals, highways, housing and so forth, and so there was a lot of spending”, said Al-Jubeir.
He also said that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors had over the past 12 years of very high oil prices accumulated significant financial reserves and that the Kingdom’s debt to gross domestic product ratio of 12 percent was lower than any other G-20 nation.
“We have no doubt that the growth rates in our economy will continue, and the financial health of the Kingdom will remain as strong as it has been”, he noted. “We have a debt to GDP ratio of somewhere around 12 percent, which is the lowest by far of all the G-20 countries”.
The minister pointed out: “We have great infrastructure, very professional enterprises, attractive laws for foreign investments and we see this in how many outside investors come into the Kingdom”.
AG/IINA
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