Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance Mr. Mohammad Al Jadaan has stated that the Kingdom overcame the coronavirus pandemic due to the speed of response and unprecedented measures it took to protect citizens and residents as well as to support economic activity, which was estimated at 13.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Mr. Al Jadaan noted that several Arab countries began to recover from the COVID-19 effects and return to economic growth.
According to the Arab Monetary Fund (IMF), the overall economic growth of Arab countries will reach about 5 percent in 2022, up from 2.9 percent a year earlier.
This is driven by several factors, including the relative improvement in global demand, high growth rates of the oil and gas sectors, as well as the continued adoption of stimulus packages by Arab governments to support economic recovery, as per the statement.
Commenting on the climate challenges, Mr. Al-Jadaan noted that “the Kingdom realized the importance of concerted efforts to confront the effects of climate change, and thus it presented qualitative initiatives of interest to the region and the world, most notably Saudi Green Initiative, the Middle East Green Initiative, and the Circular Carbon Economy.”
These initiatives contribute to achieving international goals of reducing carbon emissions and supporting economic growth stability.
Further, the Finance minister called upon Arab financial institutions to leverage the circular carbon economy approach that was approved by the G20 leaders in 2020.
Last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) announced the launch of the National Investment Strategy (NIS) in order to support the Kingdom’s economic growth.
