The Saudi Minister of Finance, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan, approved the annual borrowing plan for the year 2023 after it was approved by the Board of Directors of the National Center for Debt Management during its recent meeting.
The plan included the most prominent developments in public debt and debt market initiatives for the year 2022. It also included the financing plan for 2023 and its guidelines, in addition to the 2023 calendar of sukuk issuances within the Kingdom’s local sukuk program in Saudi riyals.
The plan also included expectations that the financing needs for the year 2023 would constitute approximately SAR 45 billion, due to the reduction of part of the total financing needs for the year 2023 through proactive financing operations that took place during the year 2022 by approximately SAR 48 billion.
The CEO of the National Center for Debt Management, Hani Al-Madani, said that the local market is one of the main tributaries of government financing, pointing out that there has been investment over the years to develop the government market over the years in cooperation with the relevant authorities.
He added that there is cooperation with the Capital Market Authority and the Central Bank in the process of deepening the local debt market. This is in addition to the market being a tributary channel for other exporters, both from the public and private sectors.
He pointed out that the past year witnessed the exploitation of the local market, in addition to entering international markets in the fourth quarter of the year. This was after completing $5 billion in financing.
Al-Madani explained that Saudi Arabia opened the year 2023 by obtaining financing worth $10 billion from international markets, taking advantage of the remarkable improvement in global markets compared to the beginning of 2022.
Despite expectations of budget surpluses during the year 2023, the Kingdom intends to continue its domestic and international financing operations to pay the principal due during 2023 and the medium term.
According to the statement of the Saudi Ministry of Finance, “The National Debt Management Center will continue to monitor the local and international markets, to seize the opportunity to enter into additional proactive financing operations according to market conditions, to strengthen the Kingdom’s presence in the debt markets and enhance the characteristics of the debt portfolio, taking into account the movement of markets and risk management in the government debt portfolio.”
