RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will feel only a limited impact from the euro zone debt crisis and will not cut spending even if there is a fall in oil prices, top officials said yesterday.

The Saudi government boosted expenditures to a record SR 804 billion in 2011, nearly 40 percent over its initial plan, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said.

Revenues and spending in Saudi Arabia were higher than budgeted in the first five months of 2012, Al-Assaf said, according to Reuters.

He was speaking at a Euromoney conference. “We are in a very comfortable fiscal position,” he said, adding that he expected inflation to ease after hitting highs earlier this year.

Economy and Planning Minister Muhammed Al-Jasser said later at the same event that any impact to Europe’s debt crisis on Saudi Arabia would be limited, thanks to Europe’s efficient use of oil and Saudi Arabia’s “negligible exposure” to European banks.

“If Europe has a serious recession it will affect the whole world, but it will affect us less,” Al-Jasser said. “Our ability to maintain a good level of spending will be OK.” Al-Jasser said he was hoping to see economic growth of around 6 percent in 2012, adding that the inflation outlook was stable in the near- to medium-term.

Meanwhile, Europe came under mounting pressure yesterday to take action to boost growth as the OECD warned that the euro zone crisis has worsened and poses the greatest risk to a recovery for the global economy.

The head of the International Monetary Fund added her voice to the clamor for decisive moves. “The crisis in the euro area has become more serious recently, and it remains the most important source of risk to the global economy,” OECD chief economist Pier Carlo Padoan warned.