Financial Risk:
Critical
Score:
13/100
Asset Disposals
Q24
8/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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According to our resources, the MoD has a formalized process of asset disposal; hower, this process lack clarity, and consistency (1), (2). There is…
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There is no transparency in the asset disposal process in Saudi Arabia as the government does not publish any relevant information on this process.…
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According to our sources, the financial outcomes of the disposal process are not made public, but certain sections of the financial unit are aware…
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Q25
0/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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According to our sources, there is a defined process of scrutiny by an internal unit, but the process in itself is superficial (1). The…
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This sub-indicator is Not Applicable because asset disposals only superficially scrutinised by an oversight body. The internal unit that is responsible for oversight and…
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This sub-indicator is Not Applicable because asset disposals only superficially scrutinised by an oversight body. Although there are some internal reports which are produced,…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
0/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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In December 2017, the Saudi Ministry of Finance for the first time provided limited details on defence spending, stating that the government would spend…
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Q27
0/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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According to our sources, the Consultative Council’s Committee on Security Affairs is not given any information relating to spending on secret items for national…
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Q28
0/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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The General Auditing Bureau (GAB) is responsible for auditing the state’s revenues, expenditures and assets, and technically has purview over all ministries and government…
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This sub-indicator is marked as Not Applicable because secret programmes are not audited. The GAB submits its annual report to the king and the…
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Q29
8/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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According to our sources, off-budget expenditure is norms in the Saudi military. The crown prince has issued many decrees for military purchases that are…
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There is no reference to off-budget military expenditures in the Saudi budget, which itself provides limited details relating to defence and military spending. This…
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According to our sources in KSA, off-budget expenditure is not prevalent in small and medium purchases. Rather, they are used in strategic and politically-motivated…
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Saudi law, in general, does not provide for public access to government information (1). There is nothing in the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia,…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There is no evidence to suggest that the Saudi government has a legal framework…
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According to our resources, there are no known or published examples of a member of the public requesting information from the defence sector and…
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Q31
50/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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There are several companies owned or linked to the Saudi military, including Military Industries Company (MIC), which is under the purview of the Saudi…
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According to our sources, all businesses that have links to the military are declared to the public; however, there is a lack of details…
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
0/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
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According to our sources, such industries are not controlled directly by MoD, even though they are mentioned to be under the purview of the…
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As stated above, there are no financial auditing procedures in place for Saudi military-owned and linked companies; there are no reports which are available…
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Illegal Private Enterprise
Q33
75/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
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Article 14 of the Saudi Civil Code prohibits government employees from working in the private sector, and from engaging in specific commercial activities, such…
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According to our sources, no unauthorized enterprises are operating in KSA. All enterprises are authorized by the law or by royal decree (1). In…
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Actual Military Spending
Q77
0/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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The Saudi government has never published reports on actual defence spending, only minimal details on projected defence budgets.
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As Saudi Arabia does not publish figures on actual defence spend, this sub-indicator is marked not applicable.
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As Saudi Arabia does not publish figures on actual defence spend, this sub-indicator is marked not applicable.
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As Saudi Arabia does not publish figures on actual defence spend, this sub-indicator is marked not applicable.
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