RIYADH- Saudi Arabia had a budget surplus of 27.8 billion riyals ($7.41 billion) in the first quarter, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said on Wednesday, following a jump in oil and non-oil revenues.

Saudi Arabia's finances were hit hard by a slump in oil prices in 2014 which led to a deficit of 367 billion riyals, or about 15 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in 2015.

Last year the kingdom, which has pledged to eliminate the deficit by 2023, ran a deficit of 136 billion riyals, or an estimated 4.6 percent of GDP, down from 230 billion a year earlier.

The surplus achieved in the first quarter this year came as something of a surprise, said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank:

"Based on crude price and production data, we expected a drop in oil revenues."

Jadaan told a conference in Riyadh that oil revenues had risen to about 149 billion riyals in the first quarter from around 114 billion in the same period last year, while non-oil revenues grew to 76.3 billion riyals, up from 52.3 billion.

In the first quarter of last year, Saudi Arabia recorded a deficit of 34.3 billion riyals as the economy emerged from a recession in 2017 - the first time it had shrunk since the global financial crisis nearly a decade earlier.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase state spending by 7 percent this year in an effort to spur growth, which has been hurt by low oil prices, according to its 2019 state budget.

Expenditure in the first quarter amounted to 217.6 billion riyals, Jadaan said, slightly higher than last year. ($1 = 3.7500 riyals)

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar, Stephen Kalin, Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ((Davide.Barbuscia@thomsonreuters.com; +971522604297; Reuters Messaging: davide.barbuscia.reuters.com@reuters.net))