How large is Saudi Arabia’s fiscal buffer?

With oil prices still languishing at multi-year lows, Saudi Arabia’s budget position – which looks set to post a shortfall of close to 20% of GDP this year – has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. However, there seems to be some confusion about the size of the Kingdom’s fiscal buffer. In this Update, we take a closer look at the options available to policymakers to finance the budget deficit and how long these might last.