Riyadh: Fitch Ratings Inc. has affirmed Saudi Arabia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A+’ with a Stable and constant Outlook, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Monday.
According to SPA, the credit rating agency specified in its report that the rating reflects the Kingdom’s strong and robust fiscal and external balance sheets, with government debt/GDP and sovereign net foreign assets (SNFA) considerably stronger than both the ‘A’ and ‘AA’ medians along with a significant fiscal buffer in the form of deposits and other public sector assets.
Growing Economy of Saudi Arabia
The agency further assumed the Sovereign Net Foreign Assets (SNFA) would remain above 50 percent of the GDP in the year 2024-2025, which is large relative to the ‘A’ median (6% of GDP) and ‘AA’ median (34% of GDP).
Fitch Inc., in its report, also highlighted that fiscal reforms that enhanced the budget’s resilience to oil price volatility could have a positive impact on the overall rating.
The agency also predicted real growth of 4.5 percent in the non-oil sector in the year 2024-2025, following an average of around 5 percent in the previous fiscal year.
