Saudi Arabia's finance minister warned against protectionism as G20 leaders gathered in London for a summit, saying restricting imports from emerging markets could worsen the global financial crisis.
G20 leaders pledged at a summit in November to fight protectionism, although 18 of their economies are named in a World Trade Organisation (WTO) report on measures taken in recent months that could be seen as restricting trade.
"With signs of recession and indications that levels of unemployment are rising in several countries as a result, indications of commerce protectionism have started to surface and this is a very worrying matter," Finance Minister Ibrahim Al Assaf told Asharq Al Awsat.
"The harm to international commerce will be very big, especially to developing and emerging countries, especially those that rely on exports, which would put the whole world in a worse situation," he was quoted as saying by the pan-Arab daily.
World leaders are meeting in London this week to try to chart a way out of the worst global downturn since the 1930s.
The World Bank has announced a $50 billion (Dh183.65bn) programme to get international trade flowing again, while the International Monetary Fund also looks poised to get a huge cash boost to its ability to help countries being ravaged by the recession.
Assaf told Reuters last week that top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia had not made any proposal to help the IMF fight the financial crisis by increasing its contribution in exchange for more voting rights.
He said all member states were discussing how to increase support for the fund.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the Arab world that is a member of the G20.
Assaf said Saudi Arabia is able to adjust public spending should the economic situation worsen although the economy was performing relatively well for now.
"We expect our economy to continue its relative good performance compared with many global economies," he added.
"We have not noticed any worrying signs and if God forbid circumstances were to change negatively we have the flexibility to amend the budget and have the capability for that," Assaf said.
Assaf was responding to a question about how Saudi Arabia would address a higher-than-expected budget deficit if crude oil prices continue to fall.
The world's top oil exporter has pledged to keep public spending high this year to support a series of major infrastructure projects, even as it expects to post its first budget deficit since an oil price rally began in 2002.
A near $100 slump in oil prices since last July and the deepening global financial crisis have brought to an end an economic boom in the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia's economy is likely to grow only 0.3 per cent this year, compared with 4.2 per cent in 2008, a Reuters poll showed last month. Five of 14 respondents said the Saudi economy could contract in real terms.