Question

What is your assessment of the financial market situation in Saudi Arabia?

Answer 1

Saudi Arabia is worlds 18th largest economy in terms of GDP. It is mainly dependent on oil sector & considered as one of the largest oil producer in the world. SAUDI STOCK EXCHANGE or TADAWUL is stock Exchange in Saudi Arabia which is also authorized to act as SECURITIES EXCHANGE. It is also considered as largest Capital market in Middle East.

The annual return of TADAWUL ,

Year	Closing level	Change in INDEX POINT	% CHANGE IN INDEX
2017	7226	15	0.22
2018	7826	600	8.31
2019	8389	562	7.19

however ,After drone attack in September, 2019 ,there was a production halt. As a result company's crude oil Supply decreased by 5.7 Million barrel per day which is 50% of output.

PRICE increased by 19 % at $ 66.67 per barrel.

As clear from the table , there has been Condition of Deflation . As the outbreak of coronavirus in 2020 the Price of oil has fell sharply due to fall in Demand in Month of Feb & March.

Performance :

• IN 2019 , SAUDI AMARCO SUCCESSFUL IPO ( Initial Public Offering ) of its share break record of Alibaba & Softbank in 2018 , and witnessed 465% over subscription which gave oil giant total value of $1.7 TRILLION.
• In January ,2020 Saudi Arabia joined JP MORGAN which forecast to generate $ 11 billion.
• According to report of World Bank , " DOING BUSINESS 2020 " - Saudi Arabia is among the top 10 improvers & climbed by 30 places.
• Growth rate = 0.4 % ( 2019 ).

1. 9 % ( 2020 )

• Inflation is at 2.2% ( 2020)
• Foreign Reserve as on Sep , 2019 = $500 billion.

Conclusion : Facing many uncertainty Saudi Arabia growth rate has been meager in 2019 . However by offering IPO of Amarco

It has gained capital to stabilise the economy but the falling Oil prices which stood $55. 7 per barrel in February bring a huge challenge amid uncertainties occurred due the outbreak of COVID-19 , which is expected to result into global slowdown.