The Gulf's Largest Economy Is Taking Advantage Of Triple Digit Oil Prices

[Emily]

So the country that spawned the hatred that led to 9/11 is making out like bandits from our sanctions.

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-...ing-Advantage-Of-Triple-Digit-Oil-Prices.html
The Gulf's Largest Economy Is Taking Advantage Of Triple Digit Oil Prices

By Oxford Business Group - Mar 02, 2022, 2:30 PM CST
As oil prices reach seven-a-half-year highs, a number of countries in the Middle East have unveiled fiscal measures designed to balance their budgets after two years of pandemic-related spending.

Saudi Arabia, the Gulf’s largest economy, in mid-December announced that it expected to post its first budget surplus in eight years in 2022.

The government has estimated that it will achieve a surplus of SR90bn ($24bn) this year, equivalent to 2.5% of GDP. This comes after the Kingdom recorded a deficit of 2.7% of GDP last year, which followed an 11.2% deficit in 2020 as Covid-19 weighed heavily on the economy.

With oil prices currently sitting above $100 a barrel – levels not seen since 2014 – the anticipated turnaround will be driven by both an increase in revenue and a reduction in spending.

Revenue is forecast to increase by around 12%, to SR1.05trn ($266.7bn).

Despite this increase in revenue, largely driven by high oil prices, Saudi government expenditure is budgeted to fall by 6%.

Mohammed Al Jadaan, the minister of finance, told local media that the surplus would be used to bolster government reserves hit by the pandemic, support national development funds, strengthen strategic economic and social projects, and partially repay debt...

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Emily]

Maduro better come through for us.

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/worl...rrily-chatting-with-vladimir-putin/ar-AAURVjk
Payback time! Why Saudi Arabia and UAE refused to talk to Joe Biden while merrily chatting with Vladimir Putin

Abhijit Iyer-Mitra
1 day ago

...

...Obviously while this is a cataclysm for some, it’s a windfall for others. Two countries that benefit significantly are Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Given how steeply crude oil prices have risen since the beginning of the conflict, these two countries will be reaping huge gains, possibly big enough to offset the low revenues accruing to low oil prices that existed for the last few years.

But that still doesn’t explain the unprecedented defiance these two countries have shown to the United States. After all, in the past, for most part, both countries adjusted oil production, and hence prices, to suit US foreign policy. For example, in 1986, it was Saudi and Emirati oversaturation of the market that sent oil prices to historic lows and bankrupted the Soviet Union, ultimately leading to its collapse.

Profits alone don’t explain this sudden defiance at a time of great need. This is where the importance of personalities in international relations comes in, specifically Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed, Joe Biden and the omnipresent shadow of former President Donald Trump.
...

From my own friends and contacts within the Saudi and Emirati governments, I had known that it had been decided way back in early 2021 that some form of payback would be meted out. The question was the timing: It couldn’t be when both the monarchies were relatively weak in political terms compared to the Biden regime. It now seems that both countries have decided that this is that tactical window that they were waiting for. They are now willing to impose devastating economic and political costs on the US as payback for the Washington “policy community’s” lèse-majesté...

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this