The Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf inaugurated here today 5th Annual Conference of Tax Forum for Middle East and North Africa organized by the Department of Zakat and Income and International Centre for Taxes and Investment. In his inaugural speech, Dr Al-Assaf expressed his optimism about what has been achieved of strong growth by the Kingdom's economy, especially in non-oil sector, in recent years, pointing to the Kingdom's continuing policy of giving priority to spending on human development and infrastructure sectors to diversify the economy and create jobs for citizens. He pointed out that the Kingdom has been able to strengthen its fiscal position by building reserves and reducing the ratio of public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) until it reached less than 3%, indicating that the Kingdom will continue to follow the economic policies and implementation of structural reforms to promote strong growth, encourage economic diversity, raise citizens' employment rates, and advance the march of sustainable development. The Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf noted that the Kingdom has achieved remarkable progress in building financial institutions enjoying flexibility and durability, and these policies supported by the flexibility of tax policy have contributed to the Kingdom's occupation of an advanced position in foreign investment attraction.
