Saudi posts record $98 bn deficit in 2015

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: AFP

Riyadh (AFP) - OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia posted a record $98 billion budget deficit in 2015 due to the sharp fall in oil prices, the finance ministry said on Monday.

Revenues were estimated at 608 billion riyals ($162 billion), well below projections and 2014 income, while spending came in at 975 billion riyals ($260 billion), ministry officials announced at a press conference in Riyadh.

The budget deficit is the highest in the history of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, but was not as big as some expected.

The International Monetary Fund had projected the 2015 deficit to be around $130 billion and other reports also put it above $100 billion.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-posts-record-98-bn-deficit-2015-004139614.html

---

#Saudi to review #power, #fuel subsidies: ministry @AFP

https://twitter.com/AFPGulf_Yemen/status/681464510000033793

[Hortensis]

1. And Saudi's wheat harvest next year will be its last.

I've read that its ag business grew explosively over 30 years to turn that desert country into an ag exporter. Unfortunately, during that time it managed to drain a giant aquifer that once fed the springs people read about in the Bible. Now that's over.

And those are only a couple of its biggest problems. Don't know what the people are going to do for income, but with petroleum, solar, and wind they should have plenty of energy to run desalinization plants.

[KansDem]

2. Saudis are buying land in Arizona...

Montini: Saudis are siphoning Arizona water to make hay

--excerpt--
“They (Almarai) got about 15 water wells when they purchased the property," Halverson said. "Now, each one of those wells can pump about 1.5 billion gallons of water. It’s an incredible amount of water they’re going to be drawing up from that aquifer underground."

According to the radio report there is nothing in Arizona law to prevent this from happening.

Apparently the Saudis needed to find water outside of their own desert country because they've greatly diminished their own available groundwater.

What this means, essentially, is that we in Arizona are exporting our most precious resource -- water -- to Saudia Arabia in the form of alfalfa hay. And it seems that there might be other companies from other countries doing the same thing here.

--more--
azcentral

[CJCRANE]

5. There are rumors that the Omnibus spending bill contains provisions

that make it even easier for foreign interests to buy American real estate.

[saturnsring]

6. they drained their aquifers over there so now theyre coming here to drain ours

[Hortensis]

10. Both SA and Arizona are governed by conservatives.

"They" over there were mostly elites who became wealthier still by leaching their own country dry and leaving its people to live with the consequences. It's hardly surprising that some see opportunity in states like Arizona that are especially open to their kind of profiteering.

[hughee99]

14. A foreign country exploiting another country's natural resources for their own benefit?

As an American, I'm appalled by this!

[pscot]

18. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery

Or so it's said.

[daleo]

13. It seems like an awfully expensive proposition

It isn't sustainable economically or ecologically. But rich people can do stupid things for a destructively long time.

[dembotoz]

3. but on facebook only liberals run deficits......

this is worse than the bush tax cuts

[MowCowWhoHow III]

4. Saudi Arabia to raise petrol prices by up to 40%: official

#BREAKING: Saudi Arabia to raise petrol prices by up to 40%: official

https://twitter.com/AFP/status/681505653035249665

[saturnsring]

8. so much for our cheaper gas?

[MowCowWhoHow III]

9. Internal Saudi Prices

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. which they subsidized for pennies on the rial.

[roamer65]

7. What they are doing is called "dumping" under GATT/WTO rules.

There should be punitive tariffs levied on their oil.

[forest444]

11. "Eees OK. The ever-generous U.S. taxpayer will bail us out if need be."

[daleo]

12. I suspect we will see the price of oil go up soon

They will have to cut back production, causing a price rise. Fossil fuel prices are so volitle and subject to manipulation, that it is a stretch to call it a reliable source of energy. Renewables are far more predictable, over moderate time scales.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

15. Saudi to boost petrol prices by more than 50%

Saudi to boost petrol prices by more than 50%

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia said Monday it was raising petrol prices by more than 50 percent for some products from Tuesday as it cuts a range of subsidies after posting a record budget deficit.

Prices will also increase for electricity, water, diesel and kerosene under the cuts decided by the council of ministers headed by King Salman, the official SPA news agency reported.

http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-raise-petrol-prices-40-164214676.html

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. D O M E S T I C only.

considering just how low oil has fallen, the increase will also be a pittance.

[happyslug]

20. Only possible if Putin Agrees

Now, another poster says the 40% increase is for Domestic Saudi Arabian Gasoline prices only. Saudi Arabia does NOT need Putin cooperation for that. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Russia are the #1 and #2 oil exporters in the world. Together Russia and Saudi Arabia out exports the next 8 oil exporters combined.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_exports




Thus unless Putin and the House of Saud agree to cut production to push up prices, prices should stay low.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

19. Might have to cut back on funding terrorism...