Saudi Arabia to start selling oil giant Aramco shares

Saudi Arabia has announced plans to sell 49 percent of its major oil company Aramco as part of its attempts to lower its deficit.

An unnamed official was reported by Saudi Arabia’s al-Eqtisadiah daily as saying on Saturday that the sales will be carried out over a 10-year period, and that the income from the sales will be spent "at home and abroad."

The oil giant’s initial public offering is expected to take place in 2018 with an initial sale of a five-percent share that will form the backbone of a fund holding $2 trillion in assets, which is thought to become the world’s largest state investment fund.

Aramco chief Amin Nasser said that the company will start publishing quarterly results in an attempt to attract future investors as of next year.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia forecast that its budget deficit for next year will be about $53 billion despite economic measures adopted by the government.

Riyadh is currently dealing with economic struggles brought on by a budget deficit of nearly $100 billion caused by a sharp slump in oil prices as well as Riyadh’s rising army expenditure, a large amount of which is being funneled into a military campaign against Yemen, where thousands of people have been killed and many more injured. 

The Saudis have also been forced to introduce a series of austerity measures that include canceling of some bonuses offered to state employees and increasing of entry visa fees for residents and foreigners.

In September, the Riyadh regime cancelled financial perks for public sector employees and cut salaries of ministers and Shura Council members by 20 and 15 percent, respectively.

In early December, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud acknowledged that some of the economic measures adopted by the government  are “painful,” stressing, however, that the policies are needed to avert more complicated financial woes.

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