Saudi Arabia's central bank foreign reserves fell in March at their fastest rate in at least 20 years and to their lowest since 2011, while the kingdom slipped into a $9 billion budget deficit in the first quarter as oil revenues collapsed.
RIYADH/DUBAI - Saudi Arabia’s central bank foreign reserves fell in March at their fastest rate in at least 20 years and to their lowest since 2011, while the kingdom slipped into a $9 billion budget deficit in the first quarter as oil revenues collapsed.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority said late on Tuesday its net foreign assets, which include securities such as U.S Treasuries and foreign deposits, fell in March to $464 billion, their lowest in 19 years. Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said last week the kingdom would limit its draw down to a maximum of $32 billion from reserves this year to fill a widening deficit which it plans to cover instead by increasing borrowing to nearly $60 billion.
Saudi Arabia, which had registered more than 20,000 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday with 152 deaths, had originally projected a $50 billion deficit this year, or 6.4% of gross domestic product , widening from around $35 billion last year. Saudi Arabia and other large producers recently agreed to cut output by almost 10 million barrels per day , in May-June, in an attempt to balance the market, but demand kept falling nonetheless due to the global slowdown.
Non-oil revenues in the first quarter fell 17% compared to the same period one year earlier, with revenues from taxes on goods and services plunging, in a sign of overall slowdown.
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