Saudi Arabia trimming expenses, slowing some projects: minister

Riyadh

SAUDI Arabia's government is cutting unnecessary expenses and delaying some projects to compensate for low oil prices, though projects that are important for the economy will go ahead, Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said.

His comments, made in an interview with broadcaster CNBC Arabia during a visit to Washington with King Salman, were the clearest official signal yet that the government was reducing expenditure in some areas as cheap oil slashed its revenues.

Mr Alassaf said the world's top oil-exporting country was well-prepared to cope with the plunge of crude prices since last year, and that Saudi policymakers were taking it seriously. "We have built reserves, cut public debt to near-zero levels and we are now working on cutting unnecessary expenses while focusing on main development projects and on building human resources in the kingdom," he said in the in…