S&P Raises Saudi Arabia Credit Rating to A/A-1 with Stable Outlook

The Saudi Press Agency stated that Standard & Poor’s International Agency, which is considered one of the major credit agencies, has decided to raise its long- and short-term credit rating of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in local and foreign currency to A/A-1, with a stable outlook.

The agency indicated that raising the credit rating of the Queen comes in light of Saudi Arabia's efforts to achieve remarkable reforms in recent years, and its achievement of structural improvements that contributed to supporting the sustainable development of the non-oil sector, in addition to efforts to manage public finances and maintain a balanced level of the country's public debt.

At the same time, the Saudi Press Agency confirmed that Standard & Poor's spoke about the strong growth of the gross domestic product in Saudi Arabia by 8.7% last year, in addition to expectations of achieving moderate economic growth during the coming years 2023-2026 at a rate of approximately 2.6%, with an average GDP Gross domestic per capita $31,500.

Also, the global agency expected the continuation of the strength of the non-oil sector in Saudi Arabia until 2026, supported by the growth of the services sector, which is supported by the ongoing social reforms and the participation of women in the Saudi economy.

Earlier, Moody's raised its expectations for the growth of the Saudi economy for the years 2023 and 2024, as it expected that Saudi Arabia would record economic growth of about 2.5% in 2023, compared to its previous forecast of 1.7%. 

It also expected the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to record a growth of about 3.1% for the year 2024, compared to previous expectations of only 2.6%, adding that its raising of economic growth expectations for the years 2023 and 2024 reflects that activity in the non-oil private sector will remain strong.