Saudi Arabia needs oil prices at $70 to $75 for surplus

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s planned 2022 budget surplus of SR90 billion ($24 billion) depends on oil prices staying at $70 to $75/barrel, Arab News quoted Jadwa, a Saudi investment bank, as saying.

Brent oil was trading at $73.01/barrel at 3:53pm Saudi time on Wednesday.

The Saudi Ministry of Finance announced this week it expects revenues valued at SR1.05 trillion in its baseline scenario for the 2022 fiscal year.

This would lead to a surplus of SR90 billion in 2022, the first since 2013. Its size is set to be 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product.

However, the ministry did not provide exact figures for either oil prices or revenues.

Ever since Aramco listed on the Saudi stock exchange, the ministry has not released exact figures for oil revenues and instead includes it within the wider category of “other revenues”. The latter encompasses oil, investment income and confiscations among others.

Jadwa had expected a lower surplus at SR35 billion in a previous report while international organisations had projected deficits of varying amounts.

This follows an estimated deficit of SR85 billion in 2021.

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