Saudi 2018 budget to focus on development, investment: finance ministry

[December 18, 2017]  DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's 2018 budget, to be released on Tuesday, will focus on expansion, development and investment, but will not include new reforms or taxes, a senior Saudi finance ministry official said on Monday.

An investor gestures as he monitors a screen displaying stock information in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 6, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser - RC19127833B0

"If there was to be a title for the 2018 budget, it would be the budget of expansion and development and investment," Saad al-Shahrani, general director of the ministry's macro-fiscal policy unit, said in an interview on Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV.

"It will also focus on capital and investment expenditure. The citizen and the private sector will have a big part of it and it will simulate the private sector."

Asked if the budget would involve additional reforms, he said previously announced plans contained all measures for 2018. "We do not expect new reforms or new taxes".

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Andrew Torchia)

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