Saudi Arabia's government will pay by next month the money it owes private companies, a committee headed by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was quoted as saying.

The Council of Economic and Development Affairs came up with a package of solutions and procedures to settle the dues, a report in Arab News quoting SPA said.

The process will be implemented immediately and completed before December 2016, it said.

The payments were delayed due to the sharp decline in oil revenue and the measures taken by the kingdom to reduce spending on a number of projects, it said.

The arrears have affected payments to foreign workers, especially in the construction sector.

According to SPA, billions of riyals have been saved by rescheduling and modifying contracts, while “a large number” of projects were stopped, saving tens of billions more.