JEDDAH, 13 December 2005 — Saudi businessmen, bankers and economists were happy with the new national budget for 2006 as they said it would boost the economy, promote the development of the Kingdom’s different regions and improve educational standard of its citizens.

“This is a budget with a vision,” banker Abdul Aziz Al-Mutlaq told Arab News. He said that the expectation is that the coming year will be the beginning of a boom era.

“It’s about time that the government settle as much as possible the public debt because that will ease commitment to development projects and help focus on strategic plans,” he said referring to the government’s plan to cut down such debts to SR475 billion by the end of this year.

As for plans to develop the industrial sector and attract foreign investment by building the infrastructure for Jubail-2 and Yanbu-2 industrial cities as well as Jubail port, Al-Mutlaq said these investments would boost the economy. “This is the kind of budget we need now, not just balancing books,” he said.

Al-Mutlaq applauded investments in new educational facilities especially training and technical institutes because he believes that the Kingdom needs more technical staff to fill second and third-layer management structures.

Shoura member and Al-Zamil Group Chairman Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil said the budget would go a long way in promoting regional development since it envisaged the establishment and furnishing of about 2,700 schools as well as opening of three new universities in Jizan, Hail and Al-Jouf. This is in addition to the setting up of university campuses attached to them.

“We had been calling for the establishment of such facilities in the Shoura Council to promote balanced regional development in the Kingdom,” he said.

Al-Zamil said the budget also emphasized human resources development and healthcare facilities through the construction of 24 new hospitals, as well as the furnishing, expansion and development of existing health complexes. He said the budget would give a big boost to the national economy.

Brad Bourland, chief economist of Samba Financial Group, said the SR55-billion budget surplus for 2006 showed the incredible strength of the oil market and an exceptional year for the Saudi government finances.

“For 2006 I calculate that the budget is based on the assumption of $35 a barrel,” said Bourland. “It is still conservative and I think that the surplus in 2006 would still be higher than the government projects. The 2006 budget is 20 percent higher than this year’s budget. So we’ll see a strong stimulus to the economy next year with a strong growth in government spending.”

Khan H. Zahid, chief economist and vice president of Riyad Bank, said the new budget was very much in line with expectations of his bank. “This is the highest budget surplus ever. Our forecast for budget surplus was SR212 billion, but it came out to SR214 billion,” he said.

Mohammed Al-Sharif, secretary general of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, described the budget as very positive that will benefit the country tremendously. “If we continue on this line of expenditure and economic reform and enforce the new economic legislations, then I expect we will see great developments,” Al-Sharif said.

— Additional input from Naif Al-Shehri