The International Monetary Fund stated that Saudi Arabia will benefit more from the production cuts announced by the Kingdom with “OPEC” and its allies, as it will achieve more revenues thanks to the rise in oil prices.
“The impact on the budget and the external situation relative to what we expected is positive, so the price impact will compensate for the loss that may arise from production,” the IMF’s head of mission to the kingdom, Amin Mati, said in an interview in Washington.
Oil prices rebounded after the banking crisis that swept the markets and pushed black gold prices in mid-March to their lowest level in 15 months, and after the unexpected decision taken by countries in “OPEC +” to cut more than one million barrels in daily production starting from next month, it stabilized. Brent crude is above $85 a barrel this April.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is the largest oil exporter in the world, has announced a voluntary reduction in production by 500 thousand barrels per day, starting next May.
Last year, Saudi oil revenues reached nearly $326 billion, which is a near-record gain, coupled with high production volumes, to make the Saudi economy the fastest growing in the G-20. This helped the Saudi government achieve a fiscal surplus for the first time in nearly a decade.
The International Monetary Fund expects Saudi economic growth to slow to 3.1% this year and next from about 9% in 2022, after the sharp improvement in expectations for 2023 in one of the Fund’s largest positive revisions in its latest global forecasts.
This article was originally published by RT.