That compares with a deficit of 34.3 billion riyals in the first quarter of last year, as the Saudi economy emerged from a recession in 2017, the first time the economy had shrunk since the global financial crisis nearly a decade earlier.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase state spending by 7 percent this year in an effort to spur economic growth that has been hurt by low oil prices, according to its 2019 state budget.

Expenditure in the first quarter amounted to 217.6 billion, Jadaan said, slightly higher when compared to last year.