Saudi Shift in Investment Priorities Pushes Reserves to 2009 Low
- July decline in net foreign assets is sharpest since pandemic
- Kingdom is changing approach that aided central bank reserves
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Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves dropped by over $16 billion last month, as the kingdom sets aside less for the central bank and funnels a greater share of its oil wealth into riskier holdings.
Net foreign assets fell to 1.53 trillion riyals ($407 billion) after increases in May and June, according to the central bank’s monthly report on Monday. It’s the sharpest drop since the depths of the pandemic, when oil revenues sank and the kingdom dipped into its hoard to fund bets on a rebound of US stocks.