assaf said. speaking to saudi television on monday night following the announcement of the national budget for 2006, al-assaf estimated the kingdom)s oil exports this year at sr580 billion. 2non-oil exports in 2005 reached sr69 billion, registering a 20 percent increase,# the minister said. the figure showed that the kingdom)s diversification drive was yielding fruits. saudi arabia)s current account was projected to record a surplus this year, sr326.5 billion, compared to sr194.7 billion last year. this represents an increase of 67.7 percent. the kingdom announced the 2006 budget on monday, projecting expenditures at sr335 billion and revenues at sr390 billion, the largest in its history. according to the finance ministry, revenues by the end of 2005 will reach sr555 billion while net expenditure will be sr341 billion. al-assaf said the kingdom)s economy was in good shape, thanks to the wise policies adopted by the government. custodian of the two holy mosques king abdullah has ordered swift implementation of the welfare projects, for which allocations have been made from the budget surplus. surging government revenues have allowed the kingdom to trim public debt - all of which is owed to local institutions. debt should fall this year to sr475 billion or 40 percent of gdp. al-assaf said sr141 billion of this year)s surplus would be spent on paying down debt. 2in 2006 debt will continue to be a priority,# he added. al-assaf said the kingdom)s oil sector grew by six to seven percent this year at fixed prices and 37.5 percent at current prices as a result of skyrocketing oil prices. he said the surge in oil prices had not created any inflation in the country. the ministry estimated the non-oil industry sector 1 which the government has targeted for growth to reduce dependence on oil revenues 1 would expand by 8.4 percent this year. referring to the effect of wto accession on the saudi economy, the minister said it would reduce the kingdom)s revenues from customs tariff by sr300 million in the first year. however, the wto entry would have a limited effect on the budget, he pointed out. --spa
