Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia greenlit its 2026 budget Tuesday, projecting a deficit of 165 billion riyals ($44 billion) as the kingdom presses on with an ambitious spending drive to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
To help meet that goal in the coming year, the ministry said the state’s general budget for 2026 would have total expenditures of 1.313 trillion riyals (350.1 billion dollars) and total revenues 1.147 trillion riyals (305.8 billion dollars)
The projected deficit amounts to 3.3 percent of GDP, which is lower than the deficit of 245 billion riyals estimated for 2025, which is equivalent to 5.3 percent of GDP, according to the finance ministry.
Ahead of the budget, the kingdom’s finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan defended the government’s latest fiscal plan.
“The current level of deficit is a policy choice,” the minister said in response to a question from AFP, during a briefing before the publication of the budget.
“We need to invest in our economy and so long as the return from these investments is higher than the cost of the debt, we will continue that drive.”
The budget figures will be keenly watched by energy industry experts, with the hopes of gleaning insights into where Saudi Arabia expects oil revenues to head in the near future.
The kingdom’s revenues are still heavily dependent on its petroleum exports.
Continued global economic uncertainty and a glut in supply has weighed on the market throughout most of the year, resulting in lower oil prices.
Crude oil prices have hovered in the $60 to $70 per-barrel range in the US and international markets, down by about $10 from the 2024 period.
Geopolitical issues, including US sanctions targeting Russian energy companies last month, have helped keep prices from sliding further.
