The Standard & Poor's Ratings Agency has affirmed Saudi Arabia's rating at A-A-2 with a stable outlook.
The agency said that its stable outlook reflects its expectations of a speedy recovery of the Saudi oil production in the wake of the attacks on Aramco facilities on the 14th of this month. Its stable outlook also reflects its expectation that the Kingdom will maintain a moderate pace of economic growth despite the geopolitical challenges, in addition to maintaining a strong budget and fiscal position over the next two years despite rising deficits.
The agency expected the Saudi government to maintain a balance between spending to stimulate the economy and strengthen fiscal discipline.
On the other hand, Standard and Poor’s expected the net government assets to represent 65 percent of GDP on average between 2019 and 2020. The agency also expected the kingdom's real GDP to shrink by 0.4 percent this year, mainly due to a decline in oil production due to the OPEC agreement and the attacks on Aramco facilities, with real GDP growth expected to return by 2.3 percent on average between 2020 and 2022.
Source (Alarabiya.net, Edited)
