Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf stressed ability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's economy to overcome the stage of drop in oil prices. In remarks to "Alekhbariah Channel" , he said, "Despite the decline of oil prices, the kingdom's economy is growing." He added that above all, the private sector is growing in good rates, stressing confidence that the kingdom will overcome this challenge as it did in the past." He added that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud's government is prepared for these circumstances as it reduced the level of debt and built large reserves and it will take other measures to support the financial side of the economy of the kingdom. On fixing by Moody's international agency of the credit rating of the kingdom at a high credit score of Aa3 while keeping the stable future outlook and commending the strength of the banking system in the kingdom, he said that Moody's gave the kingdom this good assessment reflecting the truth. This agency as well as Fitch before did not flatter the kingdom, confirming the strength and durability of the Saudi economy as the largest OPEC country and a member of the Group of Twenty. He added that Moody's has shown that the evaluation of Standard & Poor's was not built on objective grounds and thus gave the kingdom better rating The Minister of Finance indicated that the kingdom is always working to improve and diversify sources of income and economic base, and is keen to make efforts to improve the infrastructure, regulations, attract foreign investments and employment of nationals. He added, "The one who looks at the economic base finds that the Saudi economy has been growing during the past twenty-five years from 1990 to 2014, where the private sector's growth rate was approximately 6%, and this is the most important matter which is to focus on the role of the private sector in the economy. It was growing at slightly lower that 6%, and this is a high rate, and in the other hand is the diversification of exports despite the fact that oil is still the main source of exports and revenues. In the same period of 1990 to 2014, non-oil exports grew annually by 12 percent, and this an excellent percentage." About the agreements signed today between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Sudan in the presence of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and President Omar Al-Bashir President of the Republic of Sudan, the minister of finance said that these agreements are related to projects of dams and the electricity sector, as well as drilling wells and irrigation canals. He pointed out that these projects are part of the support provided by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to brotherly and friendly countries, especially neighboring countries, including Sudan. The minister of finance explained that the kingdom is active in financing exports to Sudan through Saudi Export Program of the Saudi Fund for Development, which has provided a funding of about 2.5 billion riyals from Saudi exports to Sudan and is continuing in this activity. He stressed that there is considerable interest by the leaderships of the two countries to promote investment and trade cooperation in general, pointing out that Sudan is interested in being the food basket for Arabs through the Sudanese President's initiative to attract Arab investment to his country, particularly from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The minister pointed out the Kingdom's efforts to encourage Saudi companies to invest in Sudan, as well as projects that are financed by the Saudi Fund for Development, particularly in the agricultural sector, dams, electricity and work to improve the investment environment in Sudan in order to increase the useful cooperation between the two brotherly countries.
