CITIZENS have been advised by authorities to cut their spending to overcome the present difficult economic situation facing the Kingdom. This is quite natural and nobody will question it. At the same time the ongoing move by officials and consultants to increase various service fees, raising economic burden of citizens, must be stopped. Citizens have got the message that they have to reduce spending, which has been necessitated by the sharp decline in oil revenue, the country's main source of income, to balance the national budget, which is now running on deficit. They also know that it's the time for austerity. When farmers cut branches of trees and plants to boost their growth, they don't cut all branches and leaves. Of course, there is a need to correct economic and financial policies adopted by the government as part of efforts to mobilize more income, which has been depleted due to falling oil prices. But our economic reform programs should be carried out in such a way that it should not increase the financial burden of citizens, rather it should focus on government's spending policies. We should also reduce the size of government departments by cutting short the number of employees. At the same time, measures should be taken to make them more efficient and productive. There is a long list of areas where the government can take measures to avoid wastage of public money. Firstly, we should review the feasibility and high cost of mega development projects, which require huge spending, which in my opinion is exaggerated. We should also focus on disrupted projects and give priority to complete them as quickly as possible, instead of keeping them incomplete, after studying the reasons for their disruption. Some disrupted government projects have remained incomplete for several years. The government should not start its austerity measures by cutting subsidies of essential commodities and services because such a move would have a negative impact on citizens' life and welfare. Austerity measures should not start with cutting salaries and benefits of government employees. In short, our citizens know the requirements of the present economic situation and they are ready to pay increasing bills. But they would not be able to bear the burden of wrong decisions taken by some government consultants in the past that led to wastage of public money. We should know that government officials and consultants have adopted those wrong economic decisions in the past decades without consulting and informing citizens. Such decisions and policies must be reviewed to avoid wastage of public money instead of putting extra financial burden on citizens.
