The Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan stressed that liquidity in the banking sector is very high, as it was seen in reports from international monetary organizations, and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and the banks are capable of managing liquidity and providing for the needs of the private sector. Al-Jadaan pointed out that the government is eager through the National Center for Debt Management not to compete with the private sector, but to continue issuing locally and internationally based on the conditions in the market and the cost of public debt. “It is very important that we are alert and conscience that the cost of debt does not increase, because an increase in the cost of debt is not only harmful for public financing and the cost of servicing loans in the future, but is also bad for the economy, because an increase in the cost of debt for the government increases the cost of debt for companies, and even for citizens through their mortgages and consumer loans”, the Finance minister said. He highlighted the high demand for the government debt securities, internally or externally, pointing that as per the plan, the finance ministry will take loans up to 220 billion, as per the conditions in the market and the available liquidity. Al-Jadaan said that the economic, public finance challenges that we are seeing are great, and the world and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not go back to pre-coronavirus conditions in term of economy, because there have been many economic changes, both in normal economic activities and supply chains, and in the prices and costs of services and materials. The Finance Minister said that there are teams that are working day and night to identify the risks and find opportunities that we can utilize. He stressed that the country depends largely on public finance, and the Saudi economy still depends greatly on public spending. Therefore, we have to maintain public finance so we can continue to support the economy for the years to come, Al-Jaddan said. -- SPA 07:42 LOCAL TIME 04:42 GMT 0002 www.spa.gov.sa/w1320505