Saudi Q3 Deficit Narrows 4.8% to $22.5B as Non-Oil Revenue Climbs 20%

Saudi Arabia closed the third quarter with a shortfall of SAR 84.3 billion ($22.5 billion), 4.8% smaller than the gap recorded a year earlier. The figure was well above the SAR 34.3 billion ($9.1 billion) recorded in the second quarter, a rise of 145.9%, and below the SAR 88.5 billion ($23.6 billion) posted in Q3 2025.

Both sides of the ledger contracted. Revenue slipped 4% year on year to SAR 259.1 billion ($69.1 billion). Spending fell by the same margin, to SAR 343.4 billion ($91.6 billion).

The mix underneath those totals moved much further than the totals did. Non-oil revenue climbed 20% to SAR 142.6 billion ($38 billion), from SAR 119.1 billion ($31.8 billion) a year earlier. Oil income dropped 23%, to SAR 116.5 billion ($31.1 billion) from SAR 150.8 billion ($40.2 billion).

Other revenue, a category covering property income, administrative fees, fines and penalties, jumped 68% to SAR 49.1 billion ($13.1 billion). Taxes on goods and services, which include value-added tax and excise, edged up 1% to SAR 75.2 billion ($20.1 billion).

Across the first nine months of the year the deficit reached SAR 244.3 billion ($65.1 billion). Revenue rose 3% to SAR 858.9 billion ($229 billion) while expenditure grew 8% to SAR 1.1 trillion ($294.2 billion). Non-oil revenue for the period was up 8% at SAR 412.5 billion ($110 billion); oil revenue slipped 1% to SAR 446.3 billion ($119 billion).

None of the nine-month gap was met from savings. The entire amount was financed through borrowing, leaving government reserves at SAR 399.5 billion ($106.5 billion) at the end of September. The current account balance stood at SAR 50.8 billion ($13.5 billion).

Public debt reached SAR 1.8 trillion ($473 billion), up 16.8% from SAR 1.5 trillion ($405.1 billion) at the start of January. Domestic debt accounted for SAR 1.1 trillion ($302.9 billion) of the total, with external debt at SAR 637.6 billion ($170 billion). Financing expenses in the quarter rose 69% year on year to SAR 25.7 billion ($6.8 billion), mostly interest on loans and bonds.

A Pre-Budget Statement issued on October 1 put the full-year 2026 deficit at SAR 245 billion ($65.3 billion), or 4.9% of GDP. Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan said in that statement that the 2027 estimates have to be read against continued global uncertainty and fast-moving geopolitical developments. The 2027 plan projects expenditure of SAR 1.4 trillion ($371.2 billion) against revenue of SAR 1.2 trillion ($320.5 billion), a deficit equal to about 3.6% of GDP.

The borrowing figure is where the quarter's numbers bite. A deficit that shrank slightly still added to a debt stock that has grown by roughly a sixth since January, and the interest line on that stock nearly doubled in a single quarter. Lower oil receipts push the government toward domestic and external issuance at exactly the moment servicing that issuance costs more.