"Fitch" has fixed Saudi credit rating at "A", with a stable outlook. Fitch announced that the rating reflects Saudi Arabia’s financial strength, including exceptionally high foreign reserves, and a low government debt ratio, indicating that these factors reduce dependence on oil and geopolitical shocks.
The agency expected the budget deficit in the Kingdom to increase to 12% of GDP (up to $80 billion), compared to 4.5% in 2019, and expects oil revenues to decrease by about 41% if the average price of an oil barrel to $35, with an average production of 11.5 million BPD.
While it also expected the non-oil revenues to decrease by 15% compared to last year due to the implications of the Coronavirus. She also attributed this significant decline to the absence of unrefined profits that the Kingdom achieved last year from offering a stake in Aramco, anti-corruption revenues and tax adjustments.
The agency expected the budget deficit to fall to 7% next year, with oil prices rising to $45 a barrel and the current account deficit would reach 4% of GDP in 2020, and to achieve a surplus of 1% in 2021, compared to a surplus 6% last year.
Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Edited)
