Saudi Arabia is on track to more than halve its deficit this year, based on actual figures from only the second ever Finance Ministry Quarterly Budget Performance Report (for Q2). But, despite officials linking the improved performance to the nascent effects of Crown Prince Muhammad’s Vision 2030 reforms, the reduction can be entirely attributed to higher oil prices.
The Saudi H1 deficit was SR72.7bn ($19.4bn), down 51% on H1 2016. Pro-rata this implies a full year deficit of SR146.7bn ($39.1bn) down from the records of SR362bn and SR311bn notched up in 2015 and 2016 respectively. It is also some 26% less than the SR198bn ($52.8bn) figure in the original 2017 budget (MEES, 6 January). (CONTINUED - 792 WORDS)
