Saudi economic recovery bodes well for 2021 indicators, says finance minister

Saudi Arabia's finance minister said on Tuesday that most economic sectors in the kingdom have started to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery in the last two quarters of the year bodes well for economic indicators in 2021.

Mohammed al-Jadaan, in televised remarks after the 2021 state budget was announced with a projected deficit of 4.9% of GDP, also said the government aimed to bring the deficit down to less than 1% by 2023.

Jadaan said there were no plans to revise value-added-tax in the short to medium term. He expected the kingdom to double privatization deals next year, which he said had hit some 15 billion riyals in 2020.