Bumper spending means Saudi Arabia will grow by 3.5% this year but it can’t last.
OPEC’s largest producer Saudi Arabia is to run a fiscal deficit projected at around 20% of GDP in 2015 as a result of the steep fall in oil revenues, the IMF said this week. Local investment bank NCB, in a report also issued this week, forecasts a deficit of $20.6bn for 2015. NCB notes that this is the first deficit since 1998 and contrasts with an $81.2bn surplus for 2014. (CONTINUED - 1118 WORDS)
