Saudi Arabia benefits from higher oil prices; strong economic growth driven by reforms: Al-Jadaan

Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan

Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the strong growth witnessed by the Kingdom’s economy is driven by reforms.
 

During a joint meeting of the GCC ministers of finance and central bank governors with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva, Al-Jadaan said: "We are benefiting from higher oil prices. Financial conditions are strong, along with ongoing reforms to enhance the investment environment and create more jobs.”
 

"In our region, I am confident that the outlook is favorable despite the challenging global environment,” the minister noted.
 

Al-Jadaan considered the cooperation between the fund and the countries of the region to be very close. "Our countries have benefited greatly from expert advice in the context of Article IV and from support for capacity development, and important reforms are currently being implemented in light of the difficult global environment, and we look forward to continuing strong partnership with the IMF," he said.
 

He pointed out that the GCC economies were not immune from the effects of the economic crises the world is going through, stressing that the GCC countries were keen to confront these crises proactively.
 

The minister indicated that the quick treatment of the expected effects contributed to containing the relevant effects within a short period.
 

“As a result, the GCC countries continued to maintain the wheel of development and achieve high economic growth rates, despite the IMF's lowering of its expectations for the performance of the global economy during the current and next two years,” Al-Jadaan concluded.