Saudi Arabia expects to book its first budget surplus in close to ten years in the next financial year, coming in at 2.5 percent of gross domestic product or $24 billion (90 billion riyals). Finance minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan also said budget revenues next year will be 12.4 percent higher than this year’s result. Despite the contribution of oil to this forecast performance of the Saudi economy, the Kingdom will remain on its diversification course, Al-Jadaan also said, and it will also remain disciplined about public spending. “We really want to make sure we totally decouple our expenditure from market volatility as that is very important for our economy and the people of Saudi Arabia,” Al Jadaan said, as quoted by Bloomberg. “The last thing you want is to continue this behavior of your oil revenue increases so you spend more or reduce taxes. What we need now […]