Saudi Arabia has established several task forces to face the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in the health and the economic sectors; the Kingdom’s Minister of Finance was quoted as saying in a media report.

It has also taken several measures to support the economy with the main aim of protecting the jobs of citizens in the private sector, supporting the necessary services, and providing financial and other resources for the health sector, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The Minister stated that the Kingdom announced a set of packages that have exceeded nearly SR180 billion ($23 billion), which represents 8 percent of the non-oil domestic product.

He also added that the Kingdom has a set of initiatives to support the private and health sectors, indicating that the Kingdom have also taken steps to reduce expenditure, due to the large decrease in revenues.

Revenues are expected to continue dropping throughout the year into the next financial year, he said, adding that the Kingdom must to be prepared economically and financially to face this pandemic and the acute and painful impact on the people and the private sector.

He highlighted that the government must take different measures than it previously has, adding that there must be a limit on spending, redirecting some spending to provide health services for nationals and residents. And we must face the impact of this major shock in return.

He also indicated that the government has decided to reduce some spending as of now.

The kingdom has “decided to borrow more than what was planned for, pointing out that the plan was to borrow a SR1.2 billion, but now we will borrow more than that, nearly SR100 billion”, he said.