SAMA: Saudi Arabia ‘comfortable’ with level of foreign reserves

The Kingdom has a “very comfortable” level of foreign reserves, the chairman of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said.
Official figures show the kingdom’s reserves declined to $562 billion in August from $732 billion at the end of 2014.
“I think we are very comfortable. We have no issue with that,” SAMA Chairman Ahmed Alkholifey told a press conference.
Since 2014, global oil prices have collapsed by more than half, accelerating Saudi efforts to move away from petroleum which still accounts for the bulk of government income.
Saudi Arabia has taken a series of measures to cover its fiscal gap.
It has issued domestic bonds and in October raised $17.5 billion from the kingdom’s first international bond issue.
Earlier this year, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who heads the main economic coordinating body, announced a wide-ranging plan to move the economy away from oil.

Source: Arab News