Finance Ministry asks Saudi state entities to wrap up 2017 budgets

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance has directed ministries and government authorities to close their budgets and accounts by the end of next Thursday in preparation for announcing the state budget for 2018, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.

Ministries will continue to accept payment orders for December salaries, pensions and social insurance until the end of the current fiscal year.

The Finance Ministry also asked the government agencies to deposit all their cash balances to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) at the earliest.

In November, the state budget for the first nine months of 2017 showed SAR 450.1 billion in revenue, SAR 571.6 billion in expenditures and a deficit of SAR 121.5 billion, Argaam previously reported.

The Finance Ministry had estimated the state revenue for 2017 at SAR 692 billion, expenditure at SAR 890 billion and a deficit of SAR 198 billion.