The IMF believes that Saudi Arabia should ease its austerity drive and push back its plan to balance the budget to 2022 rather than in 2019, given continuing low oil prices and slow growth.
Reviewing the latest developments in the Saudi economy in a press conference on 5 October, Timothy Callen, IMF Mission Chief for Saudi Arabia, says Riyadh should get the pace of the fiscal adjustment right – “too quick will unnecessarily hurt growth, but too slow an adjustment will see an undesirably large buildup of debt.” The IMF advice to the Saudi authorities, as they prepare to draw up their 2018 budget and review their medium-term fiscal framework, is to proceed more slowly with planned fiscal consolidation. Aim to balance the budget in 2022, Mr Callen recommends. (CONTINUED - 813 WORDS)
