عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Saudi Quarterly Budget Registers Record Surplus

The Saudi budget achieves a record surplus during the first quarter of 2022. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi budget achieves a record surplus during the first quarter of 2022. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

Saudi Quarterly Budget Registers Record Surplus

The Saudi budget achieves a record surplus during the first quarter of 2022. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi budget achieves a record surplus during the first quarter of 2022. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Official data released on Sunday showed that the Saudi budget for the first quarter of 2022 recorded a surplus of SR 57.4 billion ($15.3 billion dollars).

The Saudi Ministry of Finance announced the actual general budget for the first quarter of 2022, noting that the Kingdom collected revenues of SR 278 billion ($74.1 billion), while public expenditures amounted to SR 220.47 billion ($58.7 billion).

According to the announced data, the state’s financial revenues during the first quarter of this year grew by around 36 percent compared to the same period last year. Taxes on income, profits and capital gains contributed SR 4.1 billion, while taxes on goods and services achieved SR 60 billion, and other revenues, SR 21.4 billion.

According to the Finance Ministry report, the Kingdom’s non-oil revenues reached SR 94.26 billion. The Kingdom’s public debt rose to SR 958.64 billion in the first quarter, from SR 938 billion in the same period last year, while public spending amounted to SR 22.46 billion, the ministry said.

On the sectoral level, the Saudi actual budget statement for the first quarter of 2022 revealed a spending of SR7 billion on public administration, SR43.5 billion on the military sector, SR22.3 billion on security and administrative areas, and SR 6.8 billion on municipal services.

As for the Kingdom’s main sectors, SR44.9 billion were dedicated to education, SR34 billion to health and social development, SR11.4 billion to economic resources, and SR10.2 billion to basic equipment and transport.

Fadel Al-Buainain, member of the Shura Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Saudi Arabia was moving at a steady pace and achieving a large surplus in the first quarter of 2022.

The surplus was achieved thanks to the jump in revenues, he said, explaining that the budget figures reflected performance recovery and economic growth in most economic activities, and underlined the government’s endeavor to complete the process of economic and structural reforms that promote growth.

Most Viewed

 
 
Business

Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
TT
TT

Federal Reserve Cuts Key Interest Rate by a Quarter-point

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, US, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week.
The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target, The Associated Press reported.
Asked at a news conference how Trump's election might affect the Fed's policymaking, Chair Jerome Powell said that "in the near term, the election will have no effects on our (interest rate) decisions.”
But Trump’s election, beyond its economic consequences, has raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions. Trump has argued that as president, he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions. The Fed has long guarded its role as an independent agency able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet in his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again.
Asked whether he would resign if Trump asked him to, Powell, who will have a year left in his second four-year term as Fed chair when Trump takes office, replied simply, “No.”
And Powell said that in his view, Trump could not fire or demote him: It would “not be permitted under the law,” he said.
Thursday’s Fed rate cut reduced its benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3%. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September.
When its latest policy meeting ended Thursday, the Fed issued a statement noting that the "unemployment rate has moved up but remains low,” and while inflation has fallen closer to the 2% target level, it “remains somewhat elevated.”
After their rate cut in September — their first such move in more than four years — the policymakers had projected that they would make further quarter-point cuts in November and December and four more next year. But with the economy now mostly solid and Wall Street anticipating faster growth, larger budget deficits and higher inflation under a Trump presidency, further rate cuts may have become less likely. Rate cuts by the Fed typically lead over time to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
Powell declined to be pinned down Thursday on whether the Fed would proceed with an additional quarter-point rate cut in December or the four rate cuts its policymakers penciled in for 2025.