Saudi says deficit financed from current account in Q1

Saudi Arabia’s fiscal deficit was financed entirely from the government’s current account in the first quarter of 2017, government data showed on Thursday, and there was no drawing down of central bank’s foreign assets.

Concerns had grown last year that an oil price slump had forced the government to draw on foreign assets of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority.

The data released on Thursday showed Saudi Arabia’s fiscal deficit had fallen 71 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to SAR26bn ($6.93bn).