World monetary fund published its report on the consultation about
article four of kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the beginning of this October,
referring to the amount of the economic reforms made by Saudi government recently.
The report praised the notable progress towards achieving the goal of the
economic reforms program in accordance with 2030 vision, especially in the
issues related to fiscal consolidation that has already began to bear
fruit. It has also noted the progress achieved that seeks to improve
business environment and to prove substantial part of achieving transparency
and government accountability.
Mohamed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan, Minister of finance,
commented on the report saying that" we welcome this report that clarifies
the positive impact of the economic reforms the kingdom made as part of 2030
vision, he adds, "despite of the achievements we have made, we still have
a lot of work to do in our quest to achieve our goals. We committed ourselves
to adopt new business programs that aim to achieve sustainable development in
the kingdom and increasing the prosperity of its people. Moreover, world monetary fund experts expect
an improvement in the total local production in the medium term, despite of
declining oil prices, thanks to the major reforms done by the kingdom's
government, stressing on the need to make substantial fiscal reform suits with
the fiscal procedures announced in the financial balance program to improve the
expenses to save much more for social safety nets.
As for the reforms related to the income, the experts
referred to the positive results which are expected from the actual
implementation of the selective tax and value-added tax by 2018. Moreover, they
pointed out that correcting water and power resources prices is crucial element
to the economic reform process. They have also praised the efforts exerted by
the government to reduce the impacts of these reforms on middle and low-income
families by applying (citizen's account) program and taking this as a very
important step. The report has referred also to the efficiency of the important
steps taken by the kingdom's government to improve the effectiveness of
government spending, as those spending reduced, in addition to obtain more
gains as a result of improving the management of public investments. In that
framework, the report stressed on the importance of expanding the range of
rational expenditure office effect to cover all the ministers and institutions
to save more expenses.
As for the government performance concerning to
financial and banking sector, the report has commended on the level regulation
and supervision on banks, it has also praised the Saudi Arabian monetary agency
(SAMA) success in dealing with the emerging threats in the global financial
sector, the steps taken to improve its regulatory and control frameworks, and
developing the financial safety net. It has also referred to the notable
progress achieved on the level of making successful reforms in the capital
market and taking the needed precautions to support the domestic dept market.