Fund tells all oil exporters to be braced for prolonged period of disruption as it predicts Gulf state’s deficit will hit 21.6% of GDP this yearThe full extent of the impact of slumping crude prices on Saudi Arabia’s public finances has been highlighted by the International Monetary Fund in a unique report telling oil exporters to be braced for a prolonged period of disruption to their budgets.
The fund’s half-yearly fiscal monitor report shows that in the past three years a hefty budget surplus in Saudi Arabia has been turned into a deficit of more than 20% of GDP – double the shortfalls seen in the UK and the US during the worst of the global slump of 2008-09.
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Source: theguardian.com