The minister of finance said that “The budget deficit during the first half of the year amounted to SR 5.7 billion compared to a deficit amounting to SR 41.7 billion in the same period in the previous year, noting that the government is proceeding with controlling the performance of the general finance in a way that preserves the financial persistence and upgrading the general financial administration quality, especially what is related to the increasing of expenditure skillfulness, including the application of the new government competitiveness and procurement system and enhancement of the principles of financial disclosure and transparency in addition to the inclusion to the standard of special database at the International Monetary Fund. The minister confirmed the improvement in the indexes of economic performance and participation of the private sector, citing the GDP growth rates in Q1 2019, which reached 1.7%, compared to 1.4% in Q1 2018. Direct foreign investment inflows have also increased at a rate of 23.8 % in the first quarter of last year, in addition to an increase of the investment opportunities available for the private sector whereas the total credit facilities provided for small and medium enterprises by banks and finance companies in the first half of 2019 amounted to SR113 billion, an increase of 11.6 % compared to the same period last year in addition to the improvement of banking performance to bring to SR2.4 trillion the total assets and liabilities of commercial banks during Q2 2019, an increase of 3% equivalent to SR 69.1 billion, compared to an increase of 0.04% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. He welcomed the inclusion of the Saudi market in the world's main indexes: FTSE Russel, S&P Dow Jones, and MSCI EM which contributed to attracting foreign financial inflows amounting to SR76 billions, thus expanding the investors base in the financial market and improving the levels of liquidity in it. As many as 18 new licenses have been issued for international financial companies operating in the Kingdom, lauding the great progress achieved at the minority protection index to the seventh world rank according to IMD classification for international competitiveness over last year, advancing 13 ranks compared to last year to occupy the 26th rank. --More 21:37 LOCAL TIME 18:37 GMT 0026 www.spa.gov.sa/w1174413