Riyadh – Mubasher: Jadwa Investment forecasted a lower Saudi deficit of SAR 162 billion (6.1% of GDP) based on an oil price of $54.5 per barrel (pb) for Brent in 2017.
The improvement in budgeting as part of the ongoing reforms, is expected to make the expenditure equal to the budgeted figure of SAR 890 billion.
Saudi export price of $52 pb (around $55 pb for Brent) and crude oil production of 10.1 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2017 are consistent with the revenue projections contained in the budget, the investment firm said.
Jadwa pinpointed that the government is budgeting for a compliance with OPEC cuts, agreed back in October, thereby reducing year-on-year production by 300,000 barrels per day, maintaing their baseline forecast at 10.4 mbpd.
The budgetary performance in 2016 came close to our forecasts with a deficit of SAR 297 billion, or 12.4% of GDP, Jadwa Investment added forecasting SAR 265 billion, 11.2% of GDP.
