His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Defense, and Chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, affirmed that economic and structural reforms in the national economy are progressing steadily towards achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy, realize economic stability and financial sustainability, as well as stimulate the private sector and work to improve the standard of living for all citizens. In a press statement following the announcement of the state public budget for fiscal year 1440/1441H (2019), His Royal Highness said: "This year's budget continues to improve the efficiency of public fiscal management, and promote economic stability and financial sustainability." His Royal Highness pointed out that financial stability is a fundamental pillar of economic progress and growth, adding that the economic reforms and initiatives implemented over the past two years have directly contributed to reducing budget deficit rates in 2016, 2017 and 2018 by 12.8%, 9.3% and 4.6%, respectively, while increasing the volume of spending annually. HRH the Crown Prince stressed the effectiveness of these reforms and initiatives through their clear impact on raising the indicators of the national economy's growth during the past period. He pointed out that according to the pubic budget statement, real GDP growth for 2019 is expected to reach 2.6%, compared with 0.9% and 2.3 % in 2017 and 2018, respectively. He said that the positive financial results reflected in the budget indicators are part of pursuing financial sustainability in the medium term, according to the Kingdom's Vision 2030. HRH the Crown Prince said the government is going ahead in diversifying revenue sources and enhancing financial sustainability through increasing non-oil revenue, which rose from 127 billion Saudi riyals in 2014 to 287 billion riyals in 2018, and is expected, according to the public budget statement, to reach 313 billion riyals in 2019. --More 23:30 LOCAL TIME 20:30 GMT 0025 www.spa.gov.sa/1854790
