#Saudi foreign reserves slide as epidemic, oil volume war take toll: Kemp - Reuters

Saudi foreign reserves slide as epidemic, oil volume war take toll: Kemp - Reuters:

Saudi Arabia’s decision to wage an oil volume war with Russia, which proved badly timed as it coincided with coronavirus lockdowns and tumbling crude demand, exacted a heavy toll on the kingdom’s finances. 


Total foreign reserve assets fell by almost $24 billion in March, the largest one-month decline for at least 20 years, according to the latest official data from the kingdom’s central bank, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).

Reserve assets had fallen from a peak of $746 billion in August 2014 but until March had been steady at around $500 billion since the middle of 2017 (“Monthly bulletin”, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, April 28).

However, total reserves tumbled to just $473 billion at the end of March, the lowest for nine years, in a sign of the strain the volume war and the coronavirus epidemic imposed on the kingdom’s balance of payments.