Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said the Kingdom is still studying its options of supporting the IMF and is presently not contributing to the additional $500 billion in additional funding for the IMF agreed at the G20 summit. There have recently been reports that Saudi Arabia would contribute $90 billion, but Al-Assaf said this figure was unfounded. Speaking at a post-summit press briefing here with Mohammed Al-Jasser, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Al-Assaf said the IMF recognizes that Saudi Arabia has the largest infrastructure investment program of all the G-20 states, of $400 billion over five years, financed by oil revenues and the government. This represents 10 percent of gross domestic product, the largest percentage in the G-20. Al-Assaf described the summit as a success. He was upbeat on Saudi Arabia's ability to withstand the global financial crisis and said that there had been international recognition of the efforts that Saudi Arabia has made to head off the effects of the international financial crisis. Saudi Arabia has been less hurt than many other economies by the global financial meltdown because it began its systems of checks and balances on the financial sector a long time ago. SAMA has done a good job in supervising the banks which has contributed to stability in the financial system.
