As the Kingdom’s economy is strongly connected to oil, the decrease in oil prices over the past two years has led to a significant deficit in the government’s budget and has impacted the Kingdom’s credit rating. With regards to inflation, the General Cost of Living Index, a key indicator of the overall level of prices, has shown an increase of 3.4% in 2016 from the base year of 2007 and compared to 2015. The Kingdom’s fiscal policy aims to strengthen the general finance framework and boost efficiency in government spending to reach a balanced budget by 2020. This is in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and related programs, including the National Transformation Plan, which are designed to enhance government performance, stimulate economic growth and foreign investment inflows, and promote growth of the private sector. Results for the Fiscal Year 1437/1438H (2016) Revenues In 2016 total revenues are expected to reach SAR 528 billion, 2.7% more than SAR 514 billion projected at the beginning of the year. Non-oil revenues are expected to reach SAR 199 billion compared with SAR 181 billion projected at the beginning of the year. --More 19:40 LOCAL TIME 16:40 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w296774