RIYADH, Apr 30 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Arabia’s national budget deficit in the first quarter reached 34.107 billion Saudi riyals (9.09 billion U.S. dollars), amid oil price collapse and a significant drop in demand in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Finance Ministry, said.
“The total revenue for the first quarter amounts to 192.072 billion riyals (51.1 billion dollars), which decreased by 22 percent compared to the same period last year,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Oil revenues dropped 24 percent to 128.771 billion riyals (35 billion dollars) in the first quarter, while non-oil revenue decreased by 17 percent to 63.3 billion riyals (17 billion dollars).
During the same quarter of 2019, the Saudi national budget saw a surplus of 27.8 billion riyals (7.5 billion dollars) with the revenue standing at 245.41 billion riyals (66.3 billion dollars).
Finance Minister, Mohammed al-Jadaan, said, the government expected the COVID-19 crisis to last for several more months but that it would have a limited impact on its first-quarter revenue.
Saudi Arabia projected a deficit of 187 billion riyals (50 billion dollars), or 6.4 percent of the gross domestic product, this year.
It reported over 20,000 COVID-19 cases, as of Tuesday, with 152 deaths.– NNN-SPA
