Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday announced Saudi Arabia’s largest ever budget spending projection, at an estimated SR978 billion ($260.8 billion) for the next fiscal year, according to Saudi-based Arab News.

The figure, noted at the annual budget announcement, marks the largest budget in the history of the kingdom, the king said.

This in a notable increase from the SR890 billion projected for 2017, in the last budget.

However, despite the higher spending, the deficit is expected to decrease to around SR195 billion for the fiscal year, in comparison to SR198 billion forecast in the last budget.

2018 will mark the fifth year of budget deficit, following the crash in oil prices in mid-2014.

The king said 12 programs had been launched within the framework of Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan, adding that Saudi Arabia aims to further reduce its dependence on oil.