Saudi finance minister says local bond issues likely to resume in Q1

Saudi Arabia expects to resume monthly domestic bond sales in the first quarter of 2017 but will ensure private sector borrowing is not crowded out or banking system liquidity strained, finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said on Thursday. Jadaan was speaking to Reuters after the government released a budget plan that envisions cutting the deficit to 198 billion riyals next year from 297 billion riyals in 2016. He said local issues would resume soon but that authorities no longer felt such an urgent need to raise money domestically.
"We are likely to go to the local market within the first quarter and we are likely to go on a monthly basis, but that also depends on the liquidity of the system," said Jadaan, who took office last month. "We have a very limited deficit this time so our needs are limited and we have a cushion.