Business & Money | Sunday 19 April, 2015 7:52 am |

Saudi Arabia is capable of facing the current volatility in oil prices, said Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf.
He made these remarks at the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund.
The minister was leading the Kingdom delegation to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington.
It comprised Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Mubarak, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) and a number of officials at the Ministry of Finance.
In his speech, Al-Assaf highlighted the economic situation in the Kingdom and the globe in addition to issues relating to the IMF.

The Kingdom’s economy is still achieving good performance, supported by public investment and strong private sector performance.
In this context, Al-Assaf pointed out that Saudi Arabia is still giving priority for investment programs in education, health and social services.
He said that rating agencies had confirmed the strength and stability of the Saudi economy.
Al-Assaf noted that the banking sector still maintains good rates of liquidity, profitability and capitalization.
He said that recent reforms to strengthen regulations of the financial sector will help to support sustainable economic development and provide funding for small and medium enterprises.

During a meeting of the Development Committee of the World Bank Group, Al-Assaf highlighted the Kingdom’s role in contributing to global economic growth othrough a number of fields.
He stressed the role of the World Bank and multilateral banks in this field through contributing to an active role in financing of sustainable development goals.
He highlighted the role of Islamic finance in providing necessary resources to multilateral banks in order to achieve sustainable development goals.
Al-Assaf said that that the Islamic financing instruments recorded rapid growth in financial transactions in Islamic countries and international centers.
He stressed the need to take advantage of the Islamic Development Bank’s expertise in this field.

Finance ministers and central bank governors of G-20 are holding talks on the sidelines of the meeting.
The financial officials from the Group of 20 nations have expressed concerns about potential market instability once the US Federal Reserve starts increasing a key interest rate that has been at near zero since late 2008.

The discussions in Washington include finance ministers and central bank presidents of the G-20.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen are representing the US at the meetings.
G-20 central bankers and finance ministers said the apparent strengthening in advanced economies “could support a stronger global recovery.”
But they warned the economy is still vulnerable to “important challenges” including exchange rate volatility, stubborn low inflation, high public debt and geopolitical tensions.