10/08/2010
Kingdom to spend SR1.44tr in 9th Plan
The Council of Ministers on Monday endorsed the Ninth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-14), which has allocated SR1.44 trillion ($385 billion) for various infrastructure and welfare projects. The amount is 67 percent more than the previous plan.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques KingAbdullah, who presided over the Cabinet meeting, urged all government departments to implement all projects earmarked in the plan within their specific periods, and give top priority to those projects that are directly linked with improving the standard of living of citizens.
Under the new plan, the king said, the lion’s share of government spending (50.6 percent) is set aside for the manpower development sector that covers education and training. Social development and health care will receive 19 percent of total allocations, economic resource development 15.7 percent, transportation and telecommunications 7.7 percent while municipal services and housing 7.0 percent.
Economy and Planning Minister Khaled Al-Gosaibi said the five-year plan was prepared in line with a long-term strategic vision aimed at achieving sustained development. Apart from fighting poverty, it focuses on providing housing, employment, education, health care and other services and facilities.
“Increasing economic growth, improving the living standards and quality of life of citizens, and achieving balanced development of the Kingdom’s regions are some of the plan’s main objectives,” the minister said.
It will also help strengthen the Kingdom’s competitiveness and transform it into a knowledge-based economy. It has also given importance to youth issues, he added.
He expected a 5.2 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. “We also expect that the per capita income would grow from SR46,200 in 2009 to SR53,200 by 2014,” he said. The private sector is expected to grow by 6.6 percent annually while nonoil sectors by 6.3 percent and investment 10.4 percent.
He also pointed out that the Saudi workforce would increase from 47.9 percent in 2009 to 53.6 percent in 2014, bringing down the unemployment rate from 9.6 percent to 5.5 percent.
The government will also establish 117 hospitals including 32 specialist ones with 22,372 beds, 750 primary health care centers and 400 first-aid centers during the period. More primary, intermediate and secondary schools will be constructed to accommodate a total of 5.31 million students while the capacity of universities will be increased to 1.7 million. Twenty-five new colleges of technology, 28 higher technical institutes and 50 industrial training institutes will also be established.
