Saudi's fiscal budget is expected to continue narrowing from 9.3 per cent of the GDP last year to 4.6 per cent this year and further to 1.7 per cent in 2019.  Ali Jarekji / Reuters
Saudi's fiscal budget is expected to continue narrowing from 9.3 per cent of the GDP last year to 4.6 per cent this year and further to 1.7 per cent in 2019.  Ali Jarekji / Reuters

Saudi Arabia's fiscal deficit narrows in the second quarter



Saudi Arabia's budget deficit narrowed to 7.36 billion Saudi riyals (Dh7.2bn) in the second quarter from 34.3bn riyals in the first quarter, the finance ministry said.

The kingdom, which is working on a number of economic reforms aimed at diversifying its oil-reliant economy, has forecast a deficit of 195bn riyals or 7.3 per cent of gross domestic product this year, down from 230bn riyals last year. It aims to balance its budget by 2023.

The deficit narrowed in the second quarter because of growth in revenues, the finance ministry said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

Total revenues in the second quarter reached 273.6bn riyals, up 67 per cent from the same period last year.

Non-oil revenues reached 89.4bn riyals, up 42 per cent year on year.

Oil revenues leaped 82 per cent year on year to 184.2bn riyals, reflecting a recent rise in prices. In the first quarter of this year the comparable increase was only 2 per cent.

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The minister of finance said in a statement on Wednesday that the fiscal figures “reflect the improvement in the performance of public finance, which will lead us more towards continuing our reform plans."

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, does not disclose the oil price assumptions behind its budget. An International Monetary Fund official told Reuters earlier this year that the Arabian Gulf state would need oil prices to average $85 to $87 a barrel this year to balance its state budget.

The kingdom's GDP contracted last year for the first time since 2009, but the IMF forecasts real GDP growth to increase to 1.9 per cent in 2018, the fund said last month.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Favourite vegetable: Broccoli

Favourite food: Seafood

Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange

Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania

Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.

Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes

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