Middle East Economic Survey

VOL. XLVIII

No 37

12-September-2005

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Public Debt To Fall Below $160Bn, Says Finance Minister

The Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim al-'Assaf said on 3 September that the kingdom had managed to lower its public debt to less than SR600bn ($160bn) from SR614bn ($163.7bn) at the beginning of 2005 by allocating funds from the budget for debt reduction. The minister stated that the recent decision to raise the salaries of all public sector employees by 15%...