Saudi Arabia Sees 2023 Budget Surplus Bump Despite Oil-Market Jitters
- Kingdom improves revenue projection, doesn’t change spending
- Oil income helping achieve turnaround in government finances
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Saudi Arabia boosted its forecast for next year’s budget surplus compared with projections made just three months ago, in a sign of confidence that its revenues will hold up despite jitters in the oil market and fears of a global economic slowdown.
The government’s latest fiscal outlook, unveiled on Wednesday, showed it now expects to run a surplus of 16 billion riyals ($4.3 billion) in 2023, nearly double a previous estimate of 9 billion riyals. The economy is still forecast to expand 3.1%.