Budget: Between reality and figures

Saudi Arabia announced its national budget for 2015 during a special Cabinet session, chaired by Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense.

The budget projected revenue at SR715 billion and expenditure at SR860 billion. It was also announced that the Kingdom’s actual revenue in 2014 reached SR1,046 billion and actual spending SR1,100 billion.

The general public is not bothered about the above-mentioned figures. They are mainly concerned about the reality on the ground in terms of services.

In his keynote speech addressing the nation, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah brought public attention to the weakening global economy and declining oil prices, adding that it demanded rationalized spending.

At the same time, the king emphasized that the budget had given top priority to further improving services required by citizens. He instructed ministers and officials to spend the allocated amounts efficiently and judiciously on various projects. The king also expressed his confidence that the Kingdom’s economy would continue its growth driven by private sector activities.

In his budget speech, King Abdullah stressed the government’s plan to improve the public sector’s performance, focus on education being the main driving force of development, tackle job market imbalance, create more job opportunities for citizens and ensure optimum use of resources.

When people think about the budget and its figures, they look around them to see improvement in various services such as education, health and road systems. They want this huge spending to make changes on the ground. They look forward to continuous improvement in services. People will not be impressed by these figures until they see big difference on the ground. They pin great hopes on the executive agencies to bring those changes and boost progress.

— By Ibrahim Mohammed Badawood

Fall in inflation

A study conducted by Aleqtisadiah business daily’s economic desk indicated that the inflation rate in the Kingdom this year would be the lowest compared to the past three years. The study showed that this year’s inflation rate would be 2.7 percent to reach the general cost of index 130.1 points compared to 126.7 points in 2013. It is the lowest rate during the past seen years after 2007 was fixed as the base year.

Inflation rate will have a negative impact on the lives of citizens, despite the government’s efforts to improve their living standard by increasing salary, providing special allowances and creating more jobs through Saudization. These measures have contributed greatly to stabilize the lives of citizens but the increasing inflation was eating away their happiness in the past years.

There are positive indications that give glad tidings to citizens. Prices of commodities are declining in world markets. Oil price plunge will reduce prices of goods that we import from foreign countries. It will also reduce production cost inside the Kingdom.

Price stability is significant for a large number of citizens who depend on a fixed revenues or monthly salaries. During the past boom periods, we have seen implementation of giant projects whose benefits we will enjoy in the coming years, especially opening of universities in all regions of the Kingdom, expanding higher education opportunities for secondary school graduates.

In the coming years, we expect the government to introduce new services to enhance the welfare and progress of citizens. People expect from the government to improve services and facilitate their access to these services.

—By Salah bin Fahd Al-Shalhoub

Unnecessary brouhaha

The Muslim world has been following with interest the confrontation between Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi and other scholars regarding his statement allowing Muslim women to show their faces while going out. I would like to point out here the impact of this discourse on public opinion.

Sheikh Al-Ghamdi exposed himself and his family to unnecessary social and media pressure. He has often expressed the same opinion in the past, which conform to the majority Muslim opinion. He was not appearing with his wife for the first time with her face open.

There are Bedouins who do not allow their women to show their face, not because whether it is allowed or banned by Islam. The Salafis reject all opinions that allow women to show their faces and they have evidences from religious texts to support their argument.

The liberals are happy over Al-Ghamdi’s statement, as they have been calling for it for the past several years. But they have forgotten the fact that they live in a conservative society. Intellectuals who have both religious and material knowledge support the idea while followers of other religious schools in the Arab and Muslim world do not see any problem in his statement.

Extremist movements such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS have taken Al-Ghamdi’s statement as a violation of Islamic principles and show as evidence that they are right when they declare such Muslim individuals infidels.

In my opinion, we should not make a big hue and cry on such silly issues, ignoring other important subjects that threaten the Islamic world. Our scholars should sit together to discuss such controversial issues on the basis of the Qur’an and Sunnah and give a clear opinion so as to avoid confusion.

— By Shaher Al-Nahari

Population control

Many people believe that population growth rate in the Kingdom is very high and threatens its economy as the country depends mainly on oil revenues and does not have resources such as water to quell the thirst of teeming millions.

There was a heated discussion on population strategy last week at the Shoura Council. Some people think such discussions were unnecessary but I think it was essential, even if we agree or disagree with its content.

Some Shoura members said population growth was necessary to have more people to defend the vast Kingdom.

In modern times success in wars depends on technology and not on the number of soldiers. We have seen men and women in far-off places managing the war machinery using advanced technology. The population issue should be discussed in the light of economic impact as it is directly related to essential resources, not on geographical area. Discussing the matter in light of theories would not serve the purpose. We should look into the matter on the basis of reality.

— By Abdul Wahid Alhumaid

Female teachers and accidents

Almost every day we have been reading about road accidents involving women teachers across the Kingdom, resulting in their deaths and injuries.

Education Minister Prince Khaled Al-Faisal has taken the issue seriously and issued a number of decisions to tackle it. He reduced working days of such teachers appointed in remote areas to three days and allowed them to reach schools an hour later than the usual working hours.

The move will help female teachers get four days of weekly off to spend time with their children and other family members. Some female teachers leave their homes at 3 a.m. to reach schools located hundreds of kilometers away. They return home at 4 p.m. totally tired due to work and long travel.

Employment is essential for men and women to meet their daily expenses. As a result, people are ready to work in any far-off place. Car accidents are destined by God and are bound to happen. However, it is our duty to take precautionary measures to avoid such accidents.

Accidents have become so frequent that people whose women — wives or daughters or sisters — working outside cities fear to answer phone when it rings, thinking whether it would bring any bad news about their loved ones.

There is a good solution. The Education Ministry should contract with a reputable company to transport female teachers to their schools and back, and the company should have new buses and follow high standard of security and safety. Its buses should be electronically linked with the company in order to follow them. The bus driver should inform the company about his route and the difficulties he faces to find quick solutions. Drivers should have a uniform so that they can get assistance from the public. The government should stop the use of private taxis that operate vehicles in poor condition, one of the main reasons for the recurring accidents.

— By Mohammed Al-Shuwaier

ISIS and the West

Western countries usually make their military maneuvers based on studies conducted by think tanks. These days they wage wars without using soldiers. They create problems in the countries in order to frighten their rulers, weaken them to control their territories, and force them to seek the military support of big powers. This way they achieve the goal of waging a war at the least cost.

According to Dr. Max Manwaring, professor of military strategy at US Army War College, the concept of war in modern times has changed. We have reached the fourth generation of war that forces countries to accept the enemy’s will. What is the objective of this kind of war? Not to defeat the army on the other side, because there is no such army in the first place or cross a country’s border, but to weaken the morale of the country and impose its will on it.

They also try to make the targeted country a failing state by creating a situation in which they will not have control on certain parts of the country. This way they destabilize the country and this will enable them to force that country to do whatever they want. They succeed in achieving all the goals of previous wars without using soldiers or weapons. This brings a new definition of war, which is compulsion. In light of the above theory, western powers allow Islamic State terrorists to expand their operations in Iraq and Syria and control swaths of their lands so that these countries seek the support of western countries.

We have seen IS battalions moving around and occupying new territories without any air cover. Western forces could have destroyed these militants easily but would not do that, as they wanted to use these militants to realize their vested interests and objectives.

— By Ali Al-Khabti