In grappling with problems caused by limited revenues and a rapidly growing population while trying to maintain a reasonable standard of living for civil servants and others, the government has resorted to borrowing to meet its obligations.
The debt reached SR700 billion, not including servicing of debt, which now represents a problem in itself. With the gap widening between the population’s needs and limited revenues, the logical answer should have been a change in attitude that would lead to tighter control of public expenditure. Public spending should have been drastically cut, especially on non-essential matters, to create a balance between revenues and expenditure.
A stark example of the squandering of public money is the continuous spending on government offices that keep moving from one city to another. Government officials in both the civil and religious sectors keep shifting their offices from Riyadh to Jeddah and Taif, especially during summer. Such activities are not only not essential but can be classified as a luxury.
The relocation of government offices costs the treasury a fortune every year while causing widespread disruption in office work, not to mention the many hardships people have to suffer chasing the officials from one place to another. Files and documents are constantly on the move, forcing people to move with them to be able to follow their cases.
As a result, demand for airline seats is rising during summer, putting more pressure on a national carrier whose domestic service is already under pressure amid complaints of losses.
I appeal to the crown prince, in his capacity as chairman of the Supreme Economic Council and the man most aware of our economic conditions, and the grand mufti, to intervene. The crown prince has shown keen interest in addressing the problem of poverty and other economic and social woes including health, education, water and sewage, and electricity.
To the grand mufti I would put the following question: From a religious point of view, can a government that resorts to borrowing to meet the basic needs of its people allocate funds to cover the movement of some of its officials to summer resorts to function from there?
At a time when we are pressing for reforms, the first thing to do is to immediately stop all unnecessary spending, a behavior we inherited from the boom days. The money should be spent on more urgent things.
Arab News From the Local Press 15 July 2003
