our development march. such challenges have all been the preoccupation of your majesty, and you have been constantly urging the authorities concerned to overcome them. the most prominent of those challenges are the following : first : employment of the saudi youth, which constitutes one of the major challenges facing the national economy. in spite of the good achievements made in the preceding period, estimates indicate that unemployment among saudis amounted to about 9. 6 percent in 2009. given the rate of population growth and structure, it is important to continue intensifying current efforts to increase investment to develop the human capital with the active participation of the private and public sectors. efforts should be intensified for saudizing the jobs in the private sector, and obstacles hindering this process should be considered and eliminated. the percentage of saudization fit for the nature of each activity and sector needs to be determined, and work should be made to activate the procedures and regulations that respect productivity and safeguard the rights of workers and employers alike. second : good utilization of economic resources of our country, most notably oil and gas that represent the most important elements of the economic development of the kingdom. figures indicate that the rates of domestic consumption of the kingdom ’ s oil and gas are growing at high rates, recording an average growth of 5. 9 percent during the past five years. this is a high growth rate compared to the population growth and the size of gdp, which calls for investigating the reasons for such an increase and rationalizing it. third : provision of adequate housing for citizens which is an issue of diverse dimensions and causes. perhaps the most prominent of which are the limited availability of developable land within the urban boundary at prices appropriate to the citizen ’ s income, and the weakness of funding sources due to the absence of a regulatory framework. here lies the importance of issuing financing and mortgage laws. may allah bless your majesty and guide your steps along the path of goodness.

muhammad al - jasser : review of the latest economic developments in saudi arabia speech by his excellency dr muhammad al - jasser, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency ( sama ), to the custodian of the two holy mosques, on the presentation of the 46th annual report of the saudi arabian monetary agency, riyadh, 25 september 2010. * * * it is a great pleasure for me that the celebration of our national day coincides with the submission of the 46th annual report of saudi arabian monetary agency which reviews the latest economic developments in the kingdom for fiscal year 1430 / 1431h. ( 2009 ) and the first quarter of the current year. custodian of the two holy mosques, the impact of the global financial crisis on the world economy continued during 2009, with the world production of goods and services recording a downturn of 0. 6 percent in 2009. however, economic variables over the past months of the current year indicate positive growth rates. given that our national economy is characterized by its openness to the external world and high levels of trade integration with it, it is natural to affect and be affected by developments in the global economic system. the growth rate of gdp at constant prices declined to 0. 6 percent in the kingdom during 2009 compared to 4. 2 percent in the preceding year. the non - oil sector maintained good growth rates, growing by 3. 8 percent in 2009 compared to 4. 3 percent in the preceding year. several factors have contributed to reduce the impacts of the global financial crisis on our national economy. the most important factors are the strength of our domestic financial sector and increased government spending despite of the decline in crude oil prices. the government spending stood at r1s 596. 4 billion in 2009, reaching unprecedented record levels. the balance of payments recorded a surplus for the eleventh consecutive year, amounting to r1s 85. 4 billion in 2009. the monetary and banking sector contributed efficiently to enhancing these good results by providing appropriate liquidity to finance economic activity. money supply increased by 10. 7 percent during 2009 and commercial banks expanded in providing modern and miscellaneous banking services. moreover, positive economic developments included lower levels of domestic inflation, measured by the general cost of living index, standing at 5. 1 percent in 2009 compared to 9. 9 percent in the preceding year. currently available economic data indicate an expected and notable improvement in the domestic economic performance for the current year despite of resumed inflationary pressures. the inflation rate