Saudi Arabia is planning measures that will bring more than USD100 billion in ‘extra’ non-oil revenue by 2020, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Riyadh. “It’s a large package of programs that aims to restructure some revenue-generating sectors,” he said. “We did a quick fix in 2015, which increased our non-oil revenue by 35%.” Restructuring of subsidies will generate more than USD30 billion a year by 2020, while the value-added tax will bring in about USD10 billion a year by 2020. The Kingdom is also considering a programme similar to Green Card and fees that employers can pay to hire foreign workers beyond official quota could bring in USD10 billion a year each. A sin tax would generate an additional USD2-3 billion.   On delayed payments to contractors, Prince Mohamed said the decision to defer those payments last year was aimed at “trying to avoid a bigger danger” after discovering that ministries and government bodies could authorise spending of more than USD1 trillion based on “decrees over the last few years.” The government has paid about 70 percent of all arrears and expects that “that all or 95 to 98 percent of all arrears will be paid” over the next two years, Minister of State Mohammad bin Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh said during a dinner with the prince and top Saudi officials. (Bloomberg)