On the question about the items that will be affected by the expected decrease, Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan stated that the government will decide to reduce spending on projects, whether major ones or some of the programs aimed at achieving Vision 2030, as well as travel expense, duties, etc. Al-Jadaan said that they are also considering other items as long as they don’t touch basic necessities of the people, confirming that all options are open. The government is currently studying the effect of these options and will, therefore, decide based on its findings, the Finance Minister said. The minister of finance said that the government shell takes strict and extreme measures, which may be painful, but are necessary for public financial stability. The Finance Minister added that the economists, health experts, and epidemiologists have not yet been able to predict the duration of coronavirus pandemic and its extreme economic effects that we are witnessing. Al-Jadaan stressed on the importance of being prepared to face the continuation of this crisis and to have the financial ability, within the limits of possibility, to provide necessities to the people. The Minister of Finance said that the government has taken measures that show a great ability to make decisions at the right time before it is too late, adding that the entire world is witnessing a crisis it has not seen before. The Minister of Finance said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was affected on a larger scale because it largely depends on oil. The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 attempted to solve this issue by diversifying the source of revenue of the economic activity, however, it still largely rely on oil revenues, the Minister of Finance said. He added that as long as oil revenues have majorly decreased, by more than half, and non-oil revenues have also decreased as a result of many of the Kingdom’s economic sectors being disrupted, we must be careful and firm in managing public finances to be able to continue providing basic necessities in case this crisis continues. In regards to the question about the Saudi investments abroad, Al-Jadaan said that the government is managing the public funding in a discreet and efficient matter, and has reserves. “If we can see from the past five years, if we didn’t have these reserves, we would have faced major crises, we used these reserves to curb the budget deficit” Al-Jadaan added. He pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia used over 1 trillion riyals during the four or five previous years to cover the deficit. The investments are highly important because they have returns that are used in case of a crisis to curb the deficit, the Minister of Finance said and added that if we use the reserves, we consume the assets and won’t have any returns. Al-Jadaan said that these types of crises create investment opportunities, as many companies reduce their investments, which creates opportunities to invest in them, therefore achieving returns that curb the budget deficit over the coming years. The Minister of Finance confirmed that it is not predictable with respect to the price of oil as this matter regulated by supply and demand, and the oil markets are the ones that set the prices. He pointed that the major shocks to the global economy regarding the demand for basic goods including oil pushes greatly on the demand for oil and therefore on the oil prices. “I predict that the economic shock will continue for an amount of time that is not short, the economic situation in the world is fragile, therefore, it is very important to have a plan for the worst, Al-Jadaan said. -- More 07:39 LOCAL TIME 04:39 GMT 0001 www.spa.gov.sa/w1320504