Saudi Arabia could earn US$161 billion (605 billion riyals) this year from crude oil sales, versus a budgeted US$131 billion (492 billion riyals), local financial services provider Al Rajhi Capital said in a report published this weekend. The company noted improvements in the economic growth of the Kingdom on the back of higher oil prices, but also forecast growth in non-oil revenues that will contribute to a further narrowing of the fiscal deficit, which Al Rajhi sees at around US$22 billion (86 billion riyals), 58 percent lower than the budgeted deficit. Over the first half of the year, Saudi Arabia saw a substantial increase in both oil and non-oil revenues, by 40 percent and 49 percent, respectively. While the cost of living continued to rise, it did so at a more moderate pace. The Kingdom’s sovereign investment fund recently took out its first commercial loan, of US$11 billion, that […]