Saudi Arabia’s global bond issuances unlikely to exceed $9 bln in 2020: Al-Jadaan

Saudi Arabia’s international bond issuances are unlikely to exceed $9 billion (SAR 33.8 billion) in 2020, Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan told Bloomberg TV.

On Tuesday, the ministry announced raising $5 billion from its 6th international issuance under the Kingdom’s Global Medium-Term Note Program.

Read: Finance ministry completes pricing of 6th international note issuance totaling $5 bln

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the minister said that the Kingdom is considering issuing euros, riyals and Islamic bonds later this year depending upon the market conditions.

“Yesterday showed very clearly that demand for Saudi credit is very high and very healthy. We are very pleased not only with level of demand but also the pricing,” he said.

Al-Jadaan indicated that the Kingdom is in talks with global funding agencies to diversify its financing portfolio and seek the possibility of using other financing means.

Meanwhile, the finance minister also affirmed the government’s readiness to increase spending whenever required.

The government expects that a modest drop in spending is not likely to derail a recovery in non-oil growth, which reached an annual 4.3% in the Q3 2019, the minister said.

In 2020, the government spending is set to reduce by about 3% to SAR 1.02 trillion.

On the expatriate fees, Al-Jadaan stressed that the government has no plans to modify the current amount of SAR 800 per month.