Despite the cumulative impact of the global economic crisis over the past years the Kingdom's nonoil sector grew by 3.8 percent in 2009. The growth was however less than (4.3 percent) that of 2008.

The government spent a record SR596.4 billion ($159.04 billion) in 2009.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah commended the country's economic performance in 2009 but stressed the need for greater efforts. He made this comment while receiving the 46th annual report from Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf Saturday evening.

"Brothers, we expect the good from you. God willing, the coming days will be the days of blessings and prosperity for your homeland and people. Praise be to Allah Almighty for stability, calmness and tranquility. In spite of this, we are not satisfied with all what we have done until now. God willing, this heralds a better future," the king said commenting on the report.

The balance of payments continued to post surplus for the 11th consecutive year despite the fact that global production and services shrank by 0.6 percent.

The report also stressed the need for greater efforts for job creation and investment in the human resources development in order to end unemployment among Saudis, which reached 9.6 percent in 2009.

The SAMA report also noted the significant fall in domestic inflation, which is linked to general cost of living index, which dropped to 5.1 percent in 2009, compared to 9.9 percent in 2008.

An IMF report issued in August praised SAMA's prudent banking regulations. The IMF report had made a positive assessment of the nonoil economy, supported both by the aggressive stimulus measures and the success of the authorities in pursuing credible and sustainable regulatory standards.

The SAMA report, however, stressed the need for providing low-cost housing units to people having low-income. In order to make the housing cheaper, the country needed favorable financing and mortgage regulations.

The monetary and banking sector also played an effective role in strengthening the results by securing adequate liquidity for financing economic activities, the report noted. The 10.7 percent in 2009 cash flow was linked with the expansion of services offered by local commercial banks.

The report said the Saudi economy was prepared to deal with the global financial crisis because of its past accomplishments of establishing sound control, organizational measures and judicious financial polices. It also lauded measures such as increase in spending and wise administration of monetary policies.