S&P affirms Saudi Arabia’s rating at ‘A-’, revises outlook to ‘positive’

Rating agency S&P affirmed Saudi Arabia’s rating at “A-”, but revised its outlook to “positive” from “stable”, citing improving gross domestic product (GDP) growth and fiscal dynamics over the medium term.

In July 2021, Fitch Ratings affirmed the Kingdom’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) rating at “A”, and revised outlook to “stable” from “negative”.

In November 2021, Moody's affirmed the rating of the world's biggest oil exporter at 'A1', raising its outlook to “stable” from “negative”.

Demand for Saudi crude oil has been further underpinned by demand as some countries attempt to reduce imports from Russia, S&P said. The rating agency forecasts Saudi real GDP growth to rise to 5.8% in 2022 and average 2.7% from 2023 to 2025.

"Higher global oil prices and rising production volumes, alongside a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, are supporting Saudi Arabia's fiscal and GDP growth dynamics," S&P said.