Outlook on Saudi Bank LT FCRs Revised to Stable Following Similar Sovereign Action

13 January 2022

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI) today announced that it has revised the Outlook on the Long-Term Foreign Currency Rating (LT FCR) of eight Saudi Arabian banks to Stable from Negative. This follows the revision of the Outlook on Saudi Arabia’s LT FCR of ‘A+’ to Stable from Negative in December last year.  The change in the outlook on the sovereign’s LT FCR reflects improved prospects for the country’s public finances as a result of the strong rebound in global oil prices over the past year and the implementation of fiscal consolidation measures, as well as CI’s expectation that oil production volumes will expand significantly in the current year. The government budget balance is forecast to improve markedly on the back of rising hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon revenues. As a result, CI expects the Covid-related deterioration in government debt metrics to be partially reversed over the forecast horizon.

The same factors that led to…