Saudi Arabia sees economic recovery in 2021

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's finance minister said on Tuesday that most economic sectors in the kingdom have started to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and the recovery in the last two quarters of the year bodes well for economic indicators in 2021.

Mohammed al-Jadaan, in televised remarks after the 2021 state budget was announced with a projected deficit of 4.9% of GDP, also said the government aimed to bring the deficit down to less than 1% by 2023.

Jadaan said there were no plans to revise value-added-tax in the short to medium term. He expected the kingdom to double privatization deals next year, which he said had hit some 15 billion riyals in 2020.