The Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper announced the size of Saudi public debt in relation to the Kingdom’s GDP, by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
In a report based on a statement by the Ministry of Finance monitored by its reporting unit, the daily “Al-Eqtisadiah” stated that Saudi Arabia’s public debt rose 2.2% at the end of first quarter of this year at 958 0.64 billion. riyals (approximately 255.55 billion dollars), compared to 938 billion riyals at the end of the year. Finally, he said that “the volume of public debt in the first quarter constituted 29.9% of GDP”.
Al-Taqreber noted that “funding costs in the first quarter budget reached approximately 6.6 billion riyals, representing an increase of approximately 15% per year, while financing costs constitute approximately -about 3% of actual period costs, of which the Ministry of finance defines “financing costs” as the amounts the government must pay to the creditor in exchange for the principal of the outstanding debt, such as treasury bonds , government instruments, loans and accounts receivable.
Saudi finance expects public debt to reach 938 billion riyals for the current year, against debt of 937 billion, as in the 2021 budget, as a result of achieving surpluses in the 2022 budget, and finance they also expect the volume of public debt. for 2022, 2023 and 2024 budgets that will stabilize at 938 billion riyals, compared to previous estimates of 989 billion riyals for three years, according to Al-Eqtisadiah.
The newspaper revealed that “debt registered a growth of 9.8% in 2021, according to real budget figures, which is the lowest growth rate of the last seven years.
Debt stability for the next three years will come after its growth and for seven consecutive years, that is, since 2015, when it registered its first growth in public debt after several years in which the budget experienced of reducing public debt, explaining that “Saudi Arabia’s monetary policy aims to strike a balance between the goals of maintaining financial stability, developing sustainable economic growth, and supporting the phase of economic change. economic and social trajectory of Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi Vision 2030.
The “Al-Eqtisadiah” report also states that at the end of the first quarter, domestic debt accounted for approximately 60.4% of total public debt, amounting to 579.4 billion riyals, while the share of external debt was reached approximately 39.6 million rials % to the level of 379.3 billion rials.
Source: “The Economist”
Source: Arabic RT
