Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf stressed ability of Saudi Arabia's economy to overcome the drop in oil prices. In remarks to Al-Ekhbariya news channel, Minister Al-Assaf said, “despite the decline of oil prices, the Kingdom's economy is growing.” He added that above all, the private sector is growing “at a good rate and express confidence that the Kingdom will overcome this challenge as it did in the past.”

He added that government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz is prepared for these circumstances as it reduced the level of debt and built large reserves and it will take other measures to support the financial side of the economy of the Kingdom.

The minister indicated that the nation is always working to improve and diversify sources of income and economic base, and is keen to make efforts to improve the infrastructure, regulations, attract foreign investments and employment of nationals. “The one who looks at the economic base finds that the Saudi economy has been growing during the past twenty-five years from 1990 to 2014, where the private sector's growth rate was approximately 6%. This growth is the most important matter which is to focus on the role of the private sector in the economy. It was growing at slightly lower that 6%, and this is a high rate, and in the other hand is the diversification of exports despite the fact that oil is still the main source of exports and revenues. In the same period of 1990 to 2014, non-oil exports grew annually by 12 percent, and this an excellent percentage.”