SAUDI ARABIA said Tuesday it would take new “qualitative measures” to improve its economic development, signalling a potential shift of emphasis in its drive to raise living standards by spending tens of billions of dollars on welfare.

    The huge increase in welfare spending has helped buy social peace in Saudi Arabia and has spared the kingdom the kind of upheaval that toppled governments elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa during the “Arab Spring” that began in 2011.

    But there have been signs that the Saudi government may no longer believe it can simply spend its way out of trouble.

    “The 10th development plan should concentrate more this time on the quality of the spending, the quality of the deliverables and the quality of the services that are provided to our people,” Economy and Planning Minister Mohammed al-Jasser said.

    “You can spend on education, but then you can measure the quality of the education — what are our achievements in science, maths and reading,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a financial conference. Jasser did not elaborate further on how such measures might affect economic development.

    But his comments suggested the kingdom may change tack somewhat in efforts to address social discontent after its huge increases in spending on housing, schools and hospitals.

    “Priorities have not changed significantly ... Welfare of the citizens is the paramount concern ... Infrastructure will continue to command significant spending,” he added.

    Jasser said he targeted annual economic growth of five percent in the country’s next five-year development plan for the years 2015-2019.(SD-Agencies)