Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves fell in April to the lowest in more than 13 years due to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) failed projects and policies.
Net foreign assets fell to 1.538 trillion riyals ($410 billion) last month, the lowest since 2010, private sources revealed.
The sources pointed out that MBS spent a large amount of money from the Saudi reserves on his imaginary projects.
Saudi Arabia returned to the debt market earlier this month by selling US$6 billion of Islamic bonds. The kingdom already reported a deficit of 2.91 billion riyals in the first quarter of the year.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts the world’s top crude exporter will run a budget deficit of 1.1 percent of gross domestic product this year, a view that’s at odds with the government’s expectation for a second straight surplus it last estimated at 16 billion riyals.
The Washington-based lender hiked its estimate of the oil price Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget this year to over US$80 a barrel. The kingdom doesn’t reveal an oil price assumption in its budget.
Saudi Arabia's total exports, including both oil and non-oil exports, fell 25% year-on-year (YoY) in March 2023 to 106 billion royals ($28 billion) from SAR 142 billion.
Oil exports fell by SAR 30 billion, or 26%, in the same period to SAR 83.1 billion from SAR 113.1 billion in March 2022.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports rose by 10% or SAR 5.5 billion in March 2023 to SAR 62 billion versus the year-ago period.
Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate accelerated to a 13-month high of 2.7 percent in April.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, with a 25.5% weight of the consumer basket, rose 8.1% from a year earlier. Global food prices broke a new record last year by 1.0.
As countries and companies rush to get their hands on critical raw materials to bolster supply chains and deal with a rocky energy transition, Saudi Arabia is struggling to secure foreign direct investment.
MBS's serious human violations and grasp of power since emerging as the main power broker in Saudi Arabia has repeatedly made headlines.
Experts have warned that the sharp decline in foreign investments is a real disaster that proves that foreign investors do not trust the projects launched by MBS, including NEOM and The Line.
