The Kingdom would take new “qualitative measures” to improve its economic development, signaling a potential shift of emphasis in its drive to raise living standards by spending on welfare.

“The 10th development plan should concentrate more this time on the quality of the spending, the quality of the deliverables and the quality of the services that are provided to our people,” Economy and Planning Minister Mohammed Al-Jasser said on the sidelines of the Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference in the capital on Tuesday.

“You can spend on education, but then you can measure the quality of the education — what are our achievements in science, math and reading,” he said.

“Priorities have not changed significantly ... Welfare of the citizens is the paramount concern ... Infrastructure will continue to command significant spending,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Al-Jasser said he targeted annual economic growth of five percent in the country's next five-year development plan for the years 2015-2019.

Majeed Al-Moneef, secretary-general of the Supreme Economic Council, said in a speech to the conference that diversification of the economy away from oil over the years had not been “up to ambitions”.

Addressing this problem will require policies to improve the institutional investment climate, he said.