Fitch Ratings has affirmed Saudi Arabia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A+' with Stable Outlook.
The agency indicated in its report that the rating reflects the Kingdom's strong fiscal and external balance sheets, with government debt/GDP and sovereign net foreign assets (SNFA) considerably stronger than both the 'A' and 'AA' medians, and significant fiscal buffers in the form of deposits and other public sector assets.
The Agency assumed the Sovereign Net Foreign Assets (SNFA) will remain above 50% of GDP in 2024-2025, which is large relative to 'A' median (6% of GDP) and 'AA' median (34% of GDP). Fitch also highlighted that fiscal reforms, which increase the budgets resilience to oil price volatility could have a positive impact on the rating.
The agency forecasted real growth of 4.5% in the non-oil sector in 2024-2025, following an average of around 5% in 2022-2023