Saudi highlights preliminary signs of economic recovery

Saudi Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, has disclosed that the Kingdom showed a “very rapid” response to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the fifth Financial Stability Forum on Sunday December 6, 2020, Al-Jadaan said the quick response came through the formation of a committee to confront the challenges posed by the crisis, headed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, which announced several packages to support its economy, jobs, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

He also hailed the programs launched by Saudi Arabia in the past years, saying they played a key role in overcoming the coronavirus crisis.

Al-Jadaan also stressed that Saudi Arabia was one of the fastest countries to recover after the lockdown quickly and courageously.

“We moved rapidly from lockdown to economic recovery. We have also started to see preliminary promising signs of recovery, but there are still concerns,” he said.

He also praised the integration between the public and private sector, which was reflected in facing the COVID-19 crisis.

The Saudi official expected the Kingdom’s GDP to shrink by nearly 3.2 percent by 2020-end, compared to the G20 members’ average of 6 percent.

Notably, Al-Jadaan said that Vision 2030 had a direct role in boosting the Kingdom’s ability to face and overcome the crisis.