Saudi Arabia estimates 2025 budget funding at $37bn

Saudi Arabia will need estimated funding of SAR139 billion ($37.02 billion) in 2025 to cover the potential budget deficit.

Finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan has approved the borrowing plan, the National Debt Management Cente said in a statement.

The ministry anticipates a budget deficit of SAR101 billion for the year, with nearly SAR38 billion of debt repayment.

The kingdom aims to continue diversifying local and international financing channels to efficiently meet funding needs in 2025. It said this will be achieved by issuing sovereign debt instruments, guided by well-defined and robust risk management frameworks.

Additionally, the government will tap export credit agency financing, infrastructure development project financing, capital expenditure financing and explore new markets and currencies based on market conditions.

Last week, Saudi Arabia secured a sharia-compliant revolving credit facility of $2.5 billion from three regional and international financial institutions to fund its budget gap.

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In November 2024, the finance ministry said the budget deficit represented 2.3 percent of gross domestic product, which is lower than the 3 percent of GDP cited in a recently revised estimate for 2024. 

Al Jadaan said the government aims to expand strategic spending through 2025 on development and giga-projects, in line with Vision 2030 programmes. 

Saad Thaqfan, a member of the Saudi Economic Association, told AGBI that Saudi Arabia is expected to overshoot spending in 2025 as it has done in previous years because it needs to fund growing Vision 2030 development requirements.