RIYADH - Saudi Arabia’s finance minister Mohammed al Jadaan said on Sunday that the kingdom’s economy is solid and has the ability to deal with the coronavirus crisis despite the need to cut spending.

“The Saudi economy is able to absorb the decline in revenues and to deal with budget deficit,” he said in a statement published by the state news agency.

The world's largest oil exporter is suffering from historically low oil prices, while measures to fight the new coronavirus are likely to curb the pace and scale of economic reforms launched by Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman.

(Reporting by Marwa Rashad; editing by Jonathan Oatis) ((Samar.Hassan@thomsonreuters.com;))