Saudi Arabia plans to close several projects valued at over $20 billion to reduce public deficit, Bloomberg reports quoting people familiar with the matter.
The kingdom also intends to slash ministry budgets by a quarter. Nowadays, the Saudi Arabian budget deficit is the biggest among the world’s 20 largest economies.
Thousands of projects worth around $69 billion are currently reviewed by the government. About a third of them may be cancelled. This should have a positive impact on the budget in the next several years.
Besides, the Saudi authorities plan to merge several ministries and close some of the others. The country’s Finance Ministry refused to comment on the situation.
Due to a slump in crude prices, Saudi Arabia ended the year of 2015 with a record budget shortfall of $98 billion. According to the International Monetary Fund, oil-producing countries of the Middle East would lose $150 billion this year.
