Saudi records budget surplus of $7.4b in Q1

Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia started the year with a quarterly budget surplus for the first time since the 2014 collapse in oil prices.
The biggest Arab economy posted a surplus of 27.8 billion riyals ($7.4 billion) in the first quarter, helped by an increase in non-oil revenue as well as income from crude exports, Finance Minister Mohammed Al- Jadaan told an audience of Saudi and international bankers gathered in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Total spending increased by 8 percent while revenue jumped 48 percent. “These results clearly illustrate the remarkable progress achieved in the performance of our fiscal position,” he said. The budget deficit narrowed to 5.9 percent of gross domestic product last year from 9.3 percent in 2017.
The Saudi economy grew 2.2 percent in 2018, with the non-oil sector accounting for 56.2 percent of total GDP. First-quarter oil revenue climbed to about 149 billion riyals, compared with 114 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier. The income from non-oil activities rose to 76.3 billion riyals, compared with 52.3 billion.

No need for immediate action on oil market: Saudi minister
Bloomberg

The world’s biggest oil exporter sees no need to take immediate action in the crude market, though it will respond to the requirements of buyers affected by the end of US waivers on imports from Iran, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said.
Oil producers will exercise some market management after June, when the current round of global output cuts is set to expire, Al-Falih told
reporters on Wednesday in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia won’t change its production level for May and won’t be decreasing its current out-
put, he said.