RIYADH: Delays in state payments to construction firms are due to “technical reasons” and the payments will increase in the coming period, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf said on a MBC television network program.

He said payments to companies were now “stable” and would rise.

The program was broadcast hours after the Saudi government sold $17.5 billion of bonds, the largest emerging market debt sale ever, in its first international bond sale.

The bond offer marked a major change of policy for the government; until last year, it focused on cutting public debt.

Al-Assaf praised the government’s economic plans and austerity drive, saying it had impressed US President Barack Obama among others.

The bond issue prospectus noted that Saudi Arabia might eventually abandon the peg of its riyal currency to the US dollar, but Al-Assaf said that was included for legal reasons and the government had no intention of changing the exchange rate.

The debt issue did not include Islamic bonds; Al-Assaf said the government planned to issue sukuk in future as one way to cover its budget deficit, but did not elaborate.

Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, deputy minister of economy and planning, told the program that Saudi Arabia would have faced bankruptcy in three to four years if it had not imposed austerity policies.

Civil Service Minister Khalid bin Abdullah Al-Araj told the program that after oil prices recovered, some necessary allowances would be resumed.

He did not elaborate.