Saudi government reserves at central bank take hit to fuel Vision 2030 investments
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s reserves at the Kingdom’s national bank have fallen by 58 percent since 2016 as the government pushes ahead with funding its economic diversification plan, Vision 2030.
In April 2016 government funds at the Saudi Central Bank were SR957 billion ($255 billion), but now stand at SR402 billion.
Albara’a Al-Wazir, an economist at the US-Saudi Business Council, told Arab News the dipping into the reserve fund came as the money from oil fell over the period.
“The drop in the Kingdom’s oil revenues in light of the lower oil prices resulted in a budget deficit every year since 2013, which led the government to institute a dual pronged approach,” he said, adding: “The first was to draw down on its vast local and foreign reserves, and the second was to approach debt markets through issuing debt instruments to fund growing state expenditures.”
Reserves continued to decline in recent years despite oil prices rebounding to high levels.
The government accounts with the central bank fell by SR35 billion and stood at SR402.4 billion in April compared to March, according to the latest data by Saudi Central Bank.
The monthly decrease came from the government’s current account and its reserves, which were down by SR16.3 billion and SR18.7 billion in April, respectively.
Government reserves that stood at SR319.1 billion in April witnessed a 10.8 percent…