Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Saudi agrees $23bn financing to balance books

By Gavin Gibbon
Saudi finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan Made Nagi/Pool via Reuters
Finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that $12bn bond proceeds will cover the deficit and accelerate spending on major projects
  • 2024 Borrowing Plan approved
  • Vision 2030 spend to increase
  • Projects valued at $1.48trn

Saudi Arabia requires roughly SAR86 billion ($23 billion) in financing this year in order to help balance the kingdom’s books.

The 2024 Annual Borrowing Plan was given the green light by finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan on Thursday at a board meeting of the National Debt Management Center.

The 2024 budget statement, approved in December, estimated that the deficit for 2023 will be $22 billion, rather than the surplus of $4 billion that was being predicted last year.

The ministry predicted further annual deficits of between $20 billion and $30 billion over the next three years.

The plan will be used to finance the deficit “in addition to seizing available opportunities according to market conditions to implement additional financing activities to pay debt maturing in the coming years”, according to a statement.

“Furthermore, it is committed to leveraging market opportunities to execute alternative government financing activities that promote economic growth, such as financing development and infrastructure projects,” it added.

The kingdom, the largest oil exporter in the world, is also set to ramp up spending on its economic transformation programme Vision 2030, which is designed to end the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.

The total value of ongoing projects in Saudi Arabia was $1.487 trillion at the end of October, according to the Saudi Contractors Authority.

Last month, the kingdom arranged an $11 billion syndicated loan to help fund its infrastructure developments, the largest government loan worldwide this year.

By the end of 2024, Saudi Arabia’s total debt portfolio is expected to reach SAR1.115 billion, amounting to 26 percent of GDP, as previously revealed by the government.

In October, the International Monetary Fund trimmed Saudi Arabia’s GDP growth forecast for 2023 to 0.8 percent from its July estimates of 1.9 percent, and in December the ministry of finance forecast 0.03 percent GDP for 2023 but a rebound to 4.4 percent in 2024.

Latest articles

PIF's Starbucks shareholdings were cut almost by half from 6.3 million shares to 3.8 million

PIF slashes Starbucks stake as it cuts US stocks by $15bn

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its US equity holdings by 42 percent to $20.6 billion, including its stake in Starbucks, the global coffee chain that has suffered calls for a boycott as a result of the Gaza conflict. The latest US government data highlights funding challenges facing the Saudi giga-projects.  The filing […]

Tunisia olives

Soaring olive oil exports help Tunisia balance books

Tunisia’s soaring olive oil exports have almost doubled to close to $1 billion in just five months, helping it claw back its current account deficit.   However the increased revenues merely “paint over the cracks” and the country is still probably heading towards a sovereign default, according to an economic expert. Tunisia’s current account deficit narrowed […]

Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani attends licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas exploration blocks at the oil ministry's headquarters in Baghdad

Falling oil prices deepen Iraq’s fiscal imbalances, says IMF

Iraq’s fiscal imbalances have worsened due to significant fiscal expansion and lower oil prices, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The ongoing fiscal expansion is expected to boost growth in 2024 at the expense of a further deterioration of fiscal and external accounts and Iraq’s vulnerability to oil price fluctuations,” the Washington-based fund said in […]

Saudi aluminium producer Talco is offering 12 million shares

Aluminium producer Talco announces Saudi IPO

Aluminium producer Al Taiseer Group Talco Industrial Company (Talco) is the latest entity to reveal initial public offering (IPO) plans in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-based company, which was set up in 2009, is offering 12 million shares, a 30 percent stake, on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) at a nominal value of SAR10 ($2.67) per share. […]