Saudi budget to be prepared in three stages until 2020, says official

The preparation of Saudi Arabia’s general budget until 2020 will be go through three major phases, Hindi Al-Suhaimi, deputy finance minister for technical financial affairs, said on Wednesday.

In the first phase, the Kingdom’s budget will see immediate reforms of budgetary program. The government spending review will be improved in the second phase, to reach the highest level of compliance, transparency and participation in the last one.

Meanwhile, the budgets of government entities, which account for 20 percent of the state’s budget, will be also reviewed within the next two months, the official added in the two-week workshops held in Riyadh for preparing the Kingdom’s 2018 budget.

Al-Suhaimi said that the government authorities agreed during the event to enhance the efficiency of government spending, including allocations for human capital, projects and the programs included in the budget of each entity.