Saudi Arabia appointed market regulator Mohammed al-Jadaan as its new finance minister by royal decree yesterday, replacing Ibrahim Alassaf. according to Reuters.
Alassaf, 67, had been in office since 1996 and was the last veteran member of cabinet to remain in a key post through a series of government reshuffles after King Salman assumed power last year, including one in May that replaced the long-standing oil minister.
He has been made minister of state and will remain a member of the Council of Ministers, as the Saudi cabinet is known, according to the royal decree.
The decree also appointed new chiefs for the Public Transport Commission and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), which both supplies water and generates electricity.
It transferred responsibility for consumer protection from the ministry for commerce and investment to the health minister, Tawfiq al-Rabeeah.
Alassaf’s removal is unlikely to usher in a shift in Saudi Arabia’s tight fiscal policy, which is being crafted to a large degree by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who oversees the kingdom’s economic and defence portfolios.
