Mohammed Al-Jadaan speaks to Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of FII summit

Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister, spoke to Bloomberg’s Daybreak Middle East on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh. 

The interview covered several topics outlined below:

• Worldwide recession: the world is facing a lot of challenges, and so we need predictability, stability and cooperation. When it comes to Saudi Arabia, we have been planning and executing dynamic programs that had positive results. Unemployment is at its lowest in 20 years, the private sector is booming and investment is up by 16% compared to last year. What is needed is predicting crises and early mitigation. We have done plenty over the past couple of years to ensure we are protected when such times occur.
• GDP: We look at both oil and non-oil GDP, and the latter is a focus of the Saudi Vision 2030. Non-oil GDP is growing at 5.9% and we believe it will grow at the same rate over the next few years. We are looking to create jobs and grow the economy through the non-oil sector.
• Interest rates: There is plenty of liquidity coming into the system from the government and investment. We have both a strong banking system and central bank and we are providing support to the private sector as part of the 2030 vision. 
• Inflation: Looking at the past 18-24 months, we have taken a lot of steps to anticipate this. We made a decision to put a ceiling on energy prices locally, so the economy doesn’t get impacted, and we also provided support to low-income households. We have done a great job in making sure we have a continuous plan when it comes to food reserves. Inflation is below 3% and we don’t think it will grow higher next year. 
• US-KSA relations: US-KSA relations have been robust in the past 7-8 decades and we weathered a lot of difficult circumstances together in the past. There are a lot of strategic partnerships and shared interests between the two countries and we have taken extra steps to stabilize energy markets.

For more on Bloomberg's FII coverage, click here 

Mandatory credit: Bloomberg