Saudi Arabia uses loans to keep foreign currency reserves untouched | The National

Saudi Arabia uses loans to keep foreign currency reserves untouched | The National:



"Loans to the public sector in Saudi Arabia accelerated in April as the government opted to fund spending by bank borrowing rather than dipping into its foreign reserves.



Annual growth in government borrowing jumped to 35.9 per cent in April from the year earlier, up from 21.2 per cent the previous month, data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) showed. Bank claims on the government rose 10.6 per cent month-on-month.



“Saudi Arabia has quite a lot of projects they want to get under way,” said Khatija Haque, the head of Middle East and North Africa research at Emirates NBD. “This data seems to imply they are relying more on bank loans so far this year to pay for this rather than oil revenues.”"



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