Speaking to reporters after presenting the national budget for 2011 at the Cabinet, the minister said the Kingdom would achieve a growth rate of 3.8 percent in 2010 in the light of sound economic indicators.

The following are the main highlights of the 2011 budget:

The national budget for 2011 will continue to focus on enhancing the development process and ensure that the investment programs remain conducive to strong and sustainable economic growth. The budget puts emphasis on optimizing the use of available resources and giving priority to projects that ensure balanced development as well as more employment opportunities and job creation.

Specifically, focus will be on education, health, social and security services, municipal services, water and sewage services, and roads and highways. Moreover, the budget attaches a particular importance to projects related to research and development (R&D) as well as science and technology projects for the e-government.

The Ministry of Finance projects actual revenue to be SR735 billion in 2010 and actual expenditure to be SR626.5 billion. Increases in actual over budgeted expenditures in 2010 of SR86.5 billion reflect increases in expenditures as a result of the 13th month salary, increase in expenditures on projects in the Two Holy Mosques and in holy sites, implementation of new compensation system for university faculties, adjustment in military salaries, and the cost of increased admission to universities as well as abroad scholarship program.

Total number of government projects signed with the private sector in 2010 were 2460 with a total value of more than SR182.5 billion, an increase of 26 percent over 2009.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the value of public debt will decline from SR225 billion at the end of 2009 to SR167 billion at the end of 2010, which represents 10.2 percent of projected GDP for 2010. The stock of debt is totally domestic. Budget includes financing for new and on-going projects with a total value of SR256 billion.
 
Appropriations for the main development and public service sectors for 2011 are as follows:

Education and training

Total expenditure amounts to SR150 billion, representing 26 percent of fiscal year 2011 appropriations and an increase of 8 percent over 2010 appropriation.

Continued implementation of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Public Education Development Project (Tatweer) amounting to SR9 billion through the Education Development Holding Company owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). New projects include 610 new schools (in addition to 3200 schools currently under construction and more than 600 schools completed in fiscal year 2010) and rehabilitation of 2000 existing school buildings.

Health and social affairs

Total expenditure amounts to SR68.7 billion, an increase of 12 percent over fiscal year 2010. Projects include new primary care centers throughout the Kingdom, 12 new hospitals.

At the present, there are (120) hospitals under construction with a capacity of (26700) beds. For social services, the new budget includes appropriation to build sport clubs, social centers, social welfare and labor offices.

Municipality services

Total expenditure amounts to SR24.5 billion, an increase of 13 percent over 2010 appropriation. New project include inter-city roads, bridges, and road lights, which should help ease traffic bottlenecks. It also includes other environment-related projects.

Transportation and telecommunication

Total expenditure amounts to SR25.2 billion, an increase of 5 percent. New projects include roads totaling 6600 km to be added to 30200 km of roads currently under construction. Also, the budget includes appropriations to build 4 new airports and expansion of King Abdulaziz International Airport. In addition, the budget includes projects to build additional berths and enhancing the power network in some ports.

Water, agriculture and infrastructure sector

Total expenditure amounts to SR50.8 billion, an increase of 10 percent. Appropriations for new projects include enhancing water sources, dams and wells, as well as expanding and improving water and sewage networks. There are also allocations for new water desalination stations and upgrading existing stations. New projects will be undertaken in the industrial cities of Jubail, Yanbu, and Ras Azur to accommodate new investment projects.

Specialized credit development institutions and government financing programs

Specialized credit institutions (Real Estate Development Fund, Saudi Industrial Development Fund, Saudi Credit Bank, Saudi Arabian Agriculture Bank, Public Investment Fund, and Government Lending Program) will continue to provide loans to the industrial and agriculture sectors, as well as to housing, and small and medium enterprises which will support job creation and enhancing growth prospect. It is estimated that SR 47 billion will be disbursed in 2011 by these Institutions. The total value of loans provided by these institutions since their inceptions amounts to more than SR414.3 billion.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

According to the Central Department of Statistics and information, GDP is estimated to reach SR1,630 billion in current prices in 2010, reflecting a growth of 16.6 percent compared to 2009. Private sector is estimated to grow by 5.3 percent in current prices in 2010. In real terms, Overall GDP is estimated to grow by 3.8 percent, with government sector growing by 5.9 percent and private sector by 3.7 percent in 2010 and its contribution to GDP is expected to be 47.8 percent. All components of the GDP recorded positive growth in 2010. In particular, the nonoil industrial sector is estimated to grow by 5.0 percent; construction sector by 3.7 percent; electricity, gas, and water sector by 6.0 percent; transport and communication sector by 5.6 percent; wholesale, retail, restaurants, and hotels by 4.4 percent; and finance, insurance and real estate by 1.4 in constant prices.

General price level

Inflation, as measured by the cost of living index, is estimated at 3.7 percent in 2010, while the nonoil GDP deflator showed an increase of 1.5 percent.

Foreign trade and

balance of payment

Preliminary data, total exports of goods are estimated to be SR886.3 billion in 2010, representing an increase of 23.0 percent over 2009. Nonoil exports of goods are estimated at SR 124.2 billion, reflecting an increase of about 14.0 percent and representing 14.0 percent of total goods exported. Total imports of goods are estimated at SR326.2 billion in 2010, representing a growth of 0.7 percent compared to 2009.  Preliminary data, trade balance is estimated to record a surplus of SR557.9 billion in 2010, an increase of 41.4 percent compared to last year, as a result of the increase in oil and non-oil exports and the low growth in imports.

It is estimated that SR 47 billions will be disbursed in 2011 by these Institutions. The total value of loans provided by these institutions since their inceptions amounts to more than SR414.3 billions.