When instructions were issued by the Kingdom of Hejaz that financial matters were to be managed by a finance directorate, a single entity in the form of a General Directorate of Finance was established on 14 October 1927.

The Ministry of Finance was tasked with regulating, managing and securing the collection of state funds, and oversight of expenditures, and became the general authority for financial matters in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its territories.

1697 was issued on 27 June 1953 establishing the Ministry of Economy to replace the Bureau for Economic Affairs.

The Ministry owns the Istidama Holding Company, which on 23 April 2018, received the 36.2% stake of the Saudi Binladin Group owned by Bakr bin Laden and his brothers Saleh and Saad.

[2] In 1936, as the activities of the Ministry of Finance expanded in scope, a number of general directorates were established within the ministry (later turned into independent government bodies), including: One of the tasks of the ministry is to collect zakat from companies owned by Saudi citizens and citizens of other Gulf countries.