Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s non-oil revenues rose by 31 percent, reaching SR116 billion in the second quarter of 2021. According to the budget review statement released by the Ministry of Finance, the growth in oil revenues stood at 13 percent reaching SR132 billion during the same period. The budget figures showed that the Kingdom’s spending on health recorded an increase of 20 percent in the first half of 2021.

The budget data for the second quarter of 2021 showed that the Kingdom’s total quarterly revenues amounted to SR248 billion while compared to expenditures of SR252.6 billion, bringing the quarterly budget deficit to 4.6 billion.

In the first quarter of 2021, the quarterly budget deficit was SR7.4 billion, with total revenues of SR205 billion and expenses of SR212.4 billion. The deficit in the first quarter was entirely financed by debt. The total deficit for the first half of 2021 amounted to SR12 billion, while revenues in the second quarter recorded a growth of 85 percent on an annual basis.

The total value of financing in the second quarter amounted to SR21.5 billion, while the volume of financing in the first half accounted for SR51 billion. The Ministry of Finance stated that there is an amount from the total financing that was not used to finance the deficit during the first half of the year, and it will be used to pay the budget deficit during the remainder of the year.

The Kingdom’s public debt rose 2.4 percent, reaching SR922.8 billion by the end of the second quarter of this year as compared to about SR901.36 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2021. The total internal debt stood at SR535.27 billion, while the external debt amounted to SR387.57 billion at the end of the period.

The Kingdom’s oil revenues in the first quarter amounted to SR117 billion while non-oil revenues accounted for SR88 billion for the same quarter. Thus, Saudi Arabia’s oil revenues constituted 57 percent of the total revenues of the first quarter of this year. With this, the Kingdom achieved 24 percent of its expected revenues for 2021 in the first quarter of the year.