GulfBase Live Support
05/11/2014 00:59 AST
Saudi Arabia should set up a sovereign wealth fund to protect itself from sliding oil prices by earning higher returns from its foreign reserves, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said yesterday.
Prince Alwaleed publicly urged the government last month to do more to protect the economy of the world’s top oil exporter from the slide, and yesterday he recommended that officials put most of the kingdom’s official savings in a new fund.
“The budget of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia depends 90 percent on oil ... I’ve already said that this is a huge mistake,” said the prince, who is one of the kingdom’s most prominent businessmen and international investors. “And I have said before that if the situation remains the same then we could face a deficit in 2015 and have to use the reserves, which is something unfavourable.”
Saudi Arabia should therefore set up a sovereign fund similar to those of Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Norway that could earn 5 or 10 percent a year, Prince Alwaleed told reporters.
The annual earnings of the fund would cover a large part of the budget deficits which the government may now run because of cheaper oil, he said. The International Monetary Fund has estimated Saudi Arabia would need an average oil price of $91 a barrel in 2015 to balance its state budget. “What I’m asking for now in this open forum is to have an active sovereign wealth fund, and to put in it all the excess foreign exchange that you have, all the money you have...” Prince Alwaleed said.
The Saudi central bank has built up immense foreign reserves over the past several years of high oil prices; net foreign assets totalled SR2.76 trillion ($736bn) in September, up 6 percent from a year earlier.
In June this year, the country’s influential Shura council advisory body discussed a proposal to establish a sovereign wealth fund, but no decision was reached.
Reuters
21/03/2018
Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, just weeks after his release from detention in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton, is hunting for deals again and planning to reshape his investment empire.
The prince, in hi
Gulf News
18/03/2018
Kingdom Holding Co is reviving talks to raise about $1bn in loans, weeks after its chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was released from detention, people familiar with the matter said.
The
Gulf Times
09/03/2018
Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has signed a smart city consulting agreement to design ICT infrastructure and smart services for Jeddah Tower and Jeddah Economic City Project on behalf of the Jeddah Ec
Arab News
Ticker | Price | Volume |
---|---|---|
SABIC | 114.77 | 5,915,941 |
05/04/2018
SABIC announced the successful completion of the pilot operation of the Methyl Methacrylate Monomer (MMA) and Poly Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) plants and the commencement of commercial operations.
Saudi Gazette
05/04/2018
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed QIB’s Issuer Credit Rating at A-, Qatar’s leading Islamic bank has said in a release. According to S&P, the major contributing factors strengthening QIB’s rating
Gulf Times
05/04/2018
Qatar National Bank (QNB) aims to increase its profit by 5-8 percent this year and loans and investments by 10-12 percent, helped by expansion into faster-growing Southeast Asia markets, its CEO told
The Peninsula
04/04/2018
Doha Bank has announced the official inauguration of its Chennai Branch, in the southern Indian state, will be held today. This is Doha Bank’s third city in India after its successful establishment o
The Peninsula
04/04/2018
Bank of Sharjah said it has engaged SHUAA Capital International as liquidity providers for its shares and will commence the activity from April 4. SHUAA Capital International shall not hold more than
Gulf News