Council of Ministers approves budget of 2023 within days in upcoming extraordinary session

The Council of Ministers approves the budget for 2023, and data for expectations for the year 2022 will be announced in the upcoming extraordinary session devoted to announcing the budget details.

According to the preliminary statement of the 2023 budget, which was announced about a month ago, it is estimated that government revenues during the next year will amount to SR1123 billion (SR1.12 trillion), while estimates indicate that expenditures will reach SR1114 billion.

It is estimated that the Kingdom’s budget surplus will reach SR90 billion in the current year, 2022, provided that the surplus decreases to SR9 billion in 2023 and then rises to SR21 billion in 2024, to reach SR71 billion in the following year, 2025.

Based on these data, the total accumulated surpluses will reach SR291 billion, for the period from the current year 2022 to the year 2025, that is, during four consecutive years. If these surpluses are achieved, their total equals about 26% of the estimated revenues for the next year, 2023.

According to the achieved and estimated data for the year 2022 and the following until the year 2025, the year 2021 will be the last year to record the deficit for the Saudi budget, after eight years of deficit, specifically from 2014 to 2021.

The revenues of the Saudi budget for the first nine months of the year 2022 jumped to SR950.192 billion, by 36% over the revenues of the same period of the previous year, which were SR696.248 billion, approaching the amount of SR1045 billion estimated for the 2022 budget as a whole, to record the highest level of revenues in the Saudi budget in about eight years, specifically since 2014.

Expenses rose 14% to SR800.65 billion, compared to SR701.6 billion in the first nine months of the previous year. Oil revenues amounted to SR663.09 billion, or 67% over the revenues of the same period of the previous year, which were SR396.701 billion.

Expenses rose 14% to SR800.65 billion, compared to SR701.6 billion in the first nine months of the previous year.

The Saudi budget achieved a surplus of SR149.5 billion at the end of the first nine months of this year, supported by the significant increase in oil revenues, despite the decrease in non-oil revenues to SR287.1 billion by the end of September 2022, a rate of 4% over the revenues of the corresponding period of 2021, which were SR299.5 billion.

The surplus achieved in the Saudi budget for the first nine months of the year 2022 exceeded the government’s estimates for the surplus for the year as a whole, estimated at SR90.09 billion, by 65%.

A table showing the Saudi budget forecasts for the years 2022 to 2025 (billion riyals)

A survey conducted by Maaal newspaper revealed that the State’s general budget had achieved a deficit in 10 years during the last two decades, as it started in 2002 with a deficit of SR21 billion and continued since 2003 to achieve a budget surplus until 2009, which witnessed a deficit of SR87 billion, while it witnessed the years from 2010 to 2013 recorded a surplus, before returning to a deficit for eight consecutive years.

On the other hand, the general budget achieved a surplus ten times during the past 20 years, and the surplus reached its peak in 2008 when a surplus of SR581 billion was achieved.

According to the monitoring, the highest (actual) revenues witnessed by the general budget of Saudi Arabia were in the year 2012, when it amounted to SR1247 billion. It recorded a surplus in that year’s budget of SR374 billion, while the lowest revenues achieved were from the share of the year 2002, which did not exceed SR213 billion.

A table showing the performance of the Saudi budget from 2002 to the third quarter of 2022 (billion riyals)