CIAO DATE: 07/2010
April 2010
Center for Strategic and International Studies
•Saudi Arabia posted its first budget deficit in 2009 in eight years as government revenues fell by over 54% to SAR505bn. •Despite increased spending, the actual deficit of SAR45bn fell short of the budgeted SAR65bn, thanks to a rebound in crude oil prices. The average YTD OPEC basket oil price was significantly higher than the USD44 assumed in the 2009 budget. •Driven by higher government spending, the Kingdom’s economy expanded by a real 0.15% in 2009. In the face of a sharp oil sector contraction due to restricted quotas and lower prices, growth was largely driven by the non-oil sector which • expanded by 3.0%. •The government sector with 4.0% growth was a particularly important source of resilience while the private sector expanded by 2.5%. • For 2010, the government projects revenues of SAR470bn, 14.6% higher than the SAR410bn budgeted in 2009. Spending is set to expand by 13.7% to SAR540bn from SAR475bn. The deficit is set to broadly match this year’s figure at SAR70bn, or $18.7 billion) as the Arab world’s largest economy focuses on development and job creation. •The oil price remains the key risk for the Saudi economic outlook in 2010. OPEC now expects a 0.8% increase in total crude oil consumption to 84.93 mb/d in 2010.
Resource link: Saudi National Security and the Saudi-US Strategic Partnership: Part One: The Civil & Economic Aspects of Security [PDF] - 9.5M