Saudi Arabia will issue $31.5 billion in debt this year to help finance the national budget deficit, according to the kingdom’s Debt Management Office.
According to government statistics, Saudi Arabia’s outstanding government debt stood at approximately $150 billion at the end of last year. Of the total, just over half (54 percent) was in Saudi riyals, with the rest in US dollars.
In January, the government issued $7.5 billion in international bonds. According to the DMO, the foreign funding “would be positioned in a way in which [Saudi Arabia] could secure most of its funding in the first quarter.”
The DMO statement noted that the kingdom’s deficit funding requirements for 2019 are estimated at $35 billion, which is to be funded with a net debt issuance of $31.5 billion.
The remaining balance will come from government deposits at the central bank.
At the end of the year, the kingdom plans to have about $181 billion in outstanding debt, approximately 21.7 percent of GDP.
To contain the government’s outstanding debt exposure to interest rate risks, the DMO said it will reduce the percentage of floating-rate instruments it has.
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