Riyadh, Dec 13 (IANS): The Saudi Arabian cabinet has approved the state budget for 2022 with a surplus of 90 billion riyals ($24 billion).

The surplus budget on Sunday comes after years of previous deficit ones because of various economic reforms that cover all sectors, reports Xinhua news agency.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said the budget was announced after the country had overcome the economic repercussions and the exceptional Covid-19 pandemic.

The budget was approved with expenditures of 955 billion riyals and revenues of 1.045 trillion riyals.

The Saudi king promised to continue economic initiatives and reforms to achieve the Saudi Vision 2030 that targets the quality of life and the best utilisation of available resources.

Minister of Finance Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan noted that the Saudi economy is witnessing progress from the economic drivers that support the private sector.

Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman revealed that driven by a 7 per cent growth in the private sector, the real GDP growth in the kingdom's non-oil sector had amounted to about 5.4 per cent by the end of the third quarter of 2021.

It is expected that the Saudi Arabia's state deficit in 2021 will reach about 2.7 per cent of GDP, down from 11.2 per cent in pandemic-hit 2020, according to the Crown Prince.