During the rule of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the country has seen record figures and historical growth rates.

The Kingdom achieves high growth rates at the macroeconomic level, as gross domestic product (GDP) more than doubled from SAR 1.23 trillion in 2005 (the year King Abdullah ascended the throne) to approx. SAR 2.82 trillion in 2014, with 129.3% growth; the highest among G20.

In addition, the average income per capital rose by 73.8% from SAR 53 thousand in 2005 to SAR 92 thousand in 2014.

The KSA government continued with its plan to amortize the public debt, as the public debt fell by 90.4% from SAR 460 billion in 2005 to SAR 44 billion at the end of 2014.

The public debt-to-GDP ratio declined from 37.3% in 2005 to 1.6% in 2014. Accordingly, the Kingdom becomes the world’s lowest in terms of public debt-to-GDP ratio, according to the IMF.

During King Abdullah’s rule, the Saudi economy achieved nearly SAR 2 trillion monetary surplus, despite the 217.5% jump in state spending from SAR 346 billion to nearly SAR 1.1 trillion in 2014 upon royal decrees to boost support for development projects and programs, as well as the rise in state employees, the increase of Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), unemployment benefits under Hafiz program.

The Kingdom recorded the highest surplus in its history in 2012, when it reached nearly SAR 374 billion. The total surplus recorded during King Abdullah’s reign represents 52% of total expenditures during the same period.

Furthermore, the Kingdom’s total reverse assets quadrupled by 372.8% to around SAR 2.75 trillion at the end of 2014 from SAR 581 billion. The Kingdom became the third richest country in terms of reserve assets after China and Japan.

According to data issued by IMF, Saudi Arabia’s reserves stand for 56.4% of total reserves in the euro zone.

The Saudi economy achieve better performance during King Abdullah’s reign, as data issued by Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) showed that current account surplus for the balance of payment rose from SAR 337 billion in 2005 to SAR 440 billion in 2014, an increase by 30.4%. In light of such remarkable performance, the Kingdom becomes – according to IMF – the third biggest global economy in terms of current account surplus following China and Germany.