Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday a cut in the state budget deficit and an increase in non-oil revenues in the first half of 2019, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan released the second quarter performance report of the state's budget for the fiscal year 2019.
The data reflects an improvement in financial performance during the first half of this year compared with the same period of the previous year.
The budget deficit during the first half of 2019 amounted to 5.7 billion Saudi riyals (1.5 billion U.S. dollars), much lower than 41.7 billion riyals in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Total revenues increased by 15 percent while total expenses increased by 6 percent.
The results of the financial performance in the first half of 2019 showed an increase in non-oil revenues by 14.4 percent resulting from improvement in economic activity and implementation of the reform initiatives.
Meanwhile, oil revenues increased by 15 percent year on year.
Editor:Cherie
