Saudi Arabia’s fiscal deficit widened in the fourth quarter to the highest level in five years, as lower oil prices put pressure on the kingdom’s finances.
The government posted a budget deficit of 94.9 billion riyals ($25.3 billion) in last three months of 2025. That brought the total shortfall for the year to nearly 276.6 billion riyals, up from 115.6 billion riyals in 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance. The figure for all of last year equated to roughly 5.5% of gross domestic product.
Non-oil revenue climbed to about 122.6 billion riyals in the fourth quarter of 2025, while oil revenue slid to around 154.2 billion riyals from 170.8 billion riyals a year earlier, according to the ministry data.
The kingdom has been running budget deficits since late 2022. Bloomberg Economics estimates its oil fiscal breakeven price at $97 per barrel in 2025, or $114 when the sovereign wealth fund’s domestic spending is included. That’s far below today’s price for Brent of $71.
The wide gap has led to Saudi Arabia borrowing much more on international bond markets. It’s also caused the government to start delaying or scaling back some of the huge projects that are part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to diversify from petroleum.
Saudi officials expect the fiscal deficit for this year to decrease to 3.3% of GDP. Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. estimate the figure will be higher, at 5%-6%.
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