Spending to increase at moderate pace in KSA

Saudi Arabia's government spending is likely to increase at a more moderate pace in coming years, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters at a meeting of Arab finance ministers and central bankers in Dubai, Al-Assaf said he was confident that his government could maintain current levels of spending in the medium term even if oil prices fell.

But future annual spending increases are likely to be in the high single digits, lower than in recent years, he said at a meeting of Arab finance ministers and central bankers in Dubai. "I expect fiscal spending to increase at more moderate rates than in the past because we have been putting a lot of resources into investment, and we will reach a stage when we expect expenditure to grow at a rate that's not as high as it has been in the last few years," Al-Assaf said.

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