Saudi reports bumper budget surplus, first in nearly a decade

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia has said it recorded its first annual budget surplus in nearly a decade, beating its own projections in a year of elevated oil prices.

The surplus for 2022 amounted to 102 billion Saudi riyals ($27 billion), representing 2.6 percent of GDP, according to preliminary estimates, the finance ministry said.

That compared to a surplus of 90 billion Saudi riyals that had been projected for 2022 at the end of last year.

The world's biggest crude exporter also preliminarily recorded GDP growth of 8.5 percent for the year, the finance ministry said, higher than the 7.6 percent predicted by the International Monetary Fund. The budget approved for 2023 foresees a surplus of 16 billion Saudi riyals ($4 billion) and GDP growth of 3.1 percent, the ministry said.

The strong data comes as much of the world grapples with widespread energy shocks and deepening worries about recession. The Gulf kingdom has benefited from oil price hikes triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. Yet in a briefing with journalists in Riyadh on Wednesday, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan pushed back on the notion that the surplus resulted from the war. Instead, he said it reflected investments the kingdom had made in its oil and gas sector as well as growth in non-oil sectors, as officials push the Vision 2030 agenda of economic diversification. "We invested a lot of money when people did not," he said. "We are not celebrating the surplus. For us it's not really big news. It's something that we expected. We've been working... to curtail our spending, to increase our non-oil revenues." –