According to budget data for Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of this year, reported by "Al Arabiya" on Tuesday, the kingdom's quarterly revenues amounted to 205 billion riyals against expenditures of 212 billion riyals, leading to a quarterly budget deficit of 7.4 billion riyals. The deficit was fully financed through borrowing.
Oil revenues in the first quarter reached 117 billion riyals, while non-oil revenues for the same quarter were 88 billion riyals. Consequently, oil revenues constituted 57% of the total revenues for the first quarter of this year.
These figures represent 24% of the expected revenues for Saudi Arabia in 2021 during the first quarter. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) anticipates a real GDP growth of 2.1% in Saudi Arabia this year, with a projection of 4.8% for the next year, compared to the fund's previous estimate of 4%.
The IMF also stated that the expected growth in Saudi non-oil GDP will reach 3.9% in 2021 and 3.6% in 2022. It was reported that the real GDP is expected to shrink by 0.5% in 2021 due to agreed oil production levels within OPEC+. Furthermore, the fund predicted a decrease in the fiscal deficit to 4.2% of GDP this year, slightly lower than what was anticipated in the budget.
