King`s interview with Kuwaiti newspaper `Al-Siyassah` 5 Jeddah/Kuwait

Q- Do you continue in your five-year development plans which you have
allocated large amounts of money for implementation?


A: The five-year development plan will go ahead as planned,
involving an announced expenditure of more than two hundred billion
U.S. dollars, other than what has been allocated for the next budgets
to come with its infrastructure, construction and urban projects. Our
country's economy is solid and strong, our people are needed to be
assured and aware of that, our people would not suffer any loss; they
are just a victim of undue panic. I repeat, and repeat it again that
our country is in good conditions.


Q: But people are affected with what is happening in America, Europe
and world markets?

A: Yes... People are affected with unjustified panic, and there is
no cure, except giving specialists some time for its handling. I told
you from the very beginning of the interview that the modern
international media everywhere in the world, has created a scary
atmosphere, as if what is happening in America can happen in Riyadh
or Jeddah or any of the cities of the Kingdom. As such, people in the
light of abundance of media focus on financial crises, do not know
whom to believe.


We assure the citizens here, in accordance with the facts we know
and feel, when we say that the Saudi 'sovereign' funds are immune
from the global economic crisis; we are honest in our sayings.


When we told the people that we are involved in development plans in
accordance with the planned course, we say that with honesty, we have
nothing to hide.

Development budget figures are all before the people. All
governmental bodies' personnel are citizens of this country, these
people are the ones who put these figures, supervise expenditure and
investment.


Out of worries, there are some people who keep moving from one field
of investment to another in search of so-called safe heaven, they
leave behind some panic among the people who find them moving from
the stock market to real estate market and from the latter to
financial market and so on and so forth. if they practice patience,
they would find that their worries have no reason at all. Our economy
is in its shape, the global crisis may have created some of the
slowdown caused by the panic that prevailed in the whole world
because of this crisis, but - as I told you earlier - It is
unjustified panic that will vanish away.


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