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Saudi minister asserts economic resilience to financiers at Riyadh conference

Saudi Arabia's financial investment minister sought to guarantee investors on Tuesday the kingdom's. economy, the Middle East's biggest, was an appealing place for. financiers amidst a year of regional conflict.

Khalid Al Falih, speaking at Saudi Arabia's annual. government-organised investment conference in Riyadh, listed off. what he stated were favorable indications that a major state-driven. change of the economy far from oil was working.

The tailwinds are much stronger than the headwinds, he. stated at the Future Investment Effort (FII) summit that. consisted of executives from top worldwide banks and investment funds.

Saudi Arabia announced its Vision 2030 plan in 2016, which. involves hundreds of billions of dollars of investments to wean. the nation's economy off oil.

He said the non-oil economy had been regularly growing. at a rate of 4% to 5% given that 2017, consisting of in 2015 and this. year. The list goes on, Al Falih stated, adding that 540 companies. had actually committed to having a regional headquarters in the kingdom,. which led the federal government's target of 500 by 2030.

Saudi Arabia's economy is highly depending on oil revenues. and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month even more. lowered its outlook for development of its overall economy to 1.5% due. to the government's policy to keep lower oil production.

It estimates development will speed up to 4.6% next year.

The federal government has actually forecasted that it will publish a fiscal. deficit of 118 billion riyals ($ 32 billion) this year, equal to. 2.9% of GDP, as it moneys the financial change.

The government's massive facilities tasks, including. constructing completely new city and enterprise zones, also need. foreign financial investment.

A number of the executives who spoke at the top on Tuesday. made little mention of the disputes in Gaza and Lebanon,. in spite of worries of conflagration.

Al Falih stated that the geopolitical circumstance was. concerning and the human element was terrible in comments about. the region and Europe however without mentioning any one conflict.

The economy of Saudi Arabia and the Vision 2030 is. navigating these geopolitical and macroeconomic and worldwide. obstacles including trade tensions, political disputes,. extremely well, Al Falih stated.

(source: Reuters)