Euromoney Conference discusses future of financial sector in Saudi Arabia

Euromoney Conference discusses future of financial sector in Saudi Arabia

The Euromoney Conference has completed two days of discussions at the Faisaliah Hotel, Riyadh on the current global financial situation and the effects it is having on different industries in the Saudi Arabian market.

Saudi Arabia: Thursday, May 21 - 2009

The conference was addressed by H.E. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who said:
'Saudi Arabia has continued to follow an expansionary fiscal policy. The 2009 budget includes a 36% increase in investment spending.'


He added, 'The current expansion of investment expenditure, which covers infrastructure, public services, education and health sectors, will provide great trade and investment opportunities for the private sector both at home and abroad. We expect contracting firms and suppliers to take full advantage of these opportunities.'

The second keynote speech was delivered by H.E. Abdullah Alireza, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In it he spoke about the future vision of the Saudi economy until 2025, focusing on diversification of the sources led by the private sector to provide well-paying job opportunities, high quality education and excellent health care.

'Saudi Arabia has carried out many steps to achieve this goal including increasing sustainable economic and industrial growth, developing the business environment and infrastructure, continuing high rates of spending and supporting the national private sector,' he added.

'This vision sends a clear message to the world that Saudi Arabia will not accept being or being looked at as a fuel station but rather as a laboratory of distinction and as an incubator of innovation and invention. There is no room for reversing this policy,' he stated.

H.E. Dr Mohammed Al-Jasser, Governor, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), explained the fiscal policy in the Kingdom, 'The Saudi Arabian economy is still exposed to the vagaries of the oil market so that our growth is much more volatile than in the advanced economies which are highly diversified. The result is that we have always used fiscal policy as a powerful counter-cyclical tool to stabilize the growth path.'

Mubarak Al-Khafrah, Chairman, National Industrialisation Company (Tasnee), gave an insight into the view of the global economic crisis from a private sector perspective, 'The Saudi economy has faired better than most economies in the world coping with the financial crisis. We still need a lot of work through co-operation between the public and private sectors to withstand the impact of this crisis while at the same time pushing for our economic growth which is critical for our prosperity.'

Day two was opened with an address from H.E. Dr. Jobarah Al-Suraisry, Minister of Transport, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who commented, 'Saudi Arabia has not postponed or cancelled any public sector projects. At the beginning of the crisis it was announced that none of the Government’s projects would be affected and the largest ever budget in the Kingdom’s history was immediately put in place. The North-South Rail Project connecting Jordan and Riyadh is on track and will be completed next year. The express train connecting Jeddah to Mecca and Medina has already started and is due for completion in 2012.'

The conference included a series of discussion panels on topics on the global economy, Saudi Arabian macroeconomy and Government finance, the private sector response, equity markets, infrastructure investment, real estate and power and water. Panelists included representatives from both the public and private sector.

Delegates were also able to attend a series of focused workshops during the course of the conference discussing GCC capital markets, strategic alternatives for capital raising, domestic consolidation in the Kingdom, the future of economic diversification and financing regional economic growth through Sukuk.

The Euromoney conference was attended by 1,200 delegates over the course of the two day event.

'The conference has been a great success with many different view points on the current global financial situation and how new models should be created to free the restrictions in the financial markets and improve the availability of finance in the future. We would like to thank all the speakers, delegates and our sponsors for helping to create a very informative and interesting conference,'

concluded Richad Banks, Director, Middle East, Euromoney Conferences.