Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has accrued significant budget surpluses resulting from increased oil production and higher oil prices. Some of those surpluses have been used as foreign reserves of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA).
With new leadership at the helm of SAMA, it may be time to revisit the rather costly policy of maintaining high levels of reserves. We should explore options to manage those surpluses, now that they have grown way beyond the strict needs of monetary policy.
By the end of 2011, SAMA's foreign reserves exceeded SR2 trillion, or $533 billion, a historical record. Although by absolute value China and Japan have greater foreign reserves, SAMA's reserves are the highest as a percentage of GDP, exceeding 90 percent.
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