Saudi Arabia Records Deepest Budget Deficit Since 2020
Highway traffic queues near the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Maya Anwar/BloombergSaudi Arabia’s fiscal deficit widened in the fourth quarter to the highest level in five years, as lower oil prices put pressure on the kingdom’s finances.
The government posted a budget deficit of 94.9 billion riyals ($25.3 billion) in last three months of 2025. That brought the total shortfall for the year to nearly 276.6 billion riyals, up from 115.6 billion riyals in 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance. The figure for all of last year equated to roughly 5.5% of gross domestic product.