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Saudi Arabia Selected issues

To meet large financing needs over the coming years, Saudi Arabia has multiple financing options. It can draw down the large stock of government deposits held at the central bank, sell other financial assets, or borrow domestically or abroad. This paper uses an asset-liability management framework to discuss the benefits and risks as well as the macroeconomic implications of each of these options, and illustrates some of these aspects through a simulation analysis. It also reviews a number of policies that will help expand the investor base and reduce financing costs, while having broader positive implications for the economy. In particular, establishing a benchmark yield curve will encourage the development of the domestic debt market. Moreover, the fiscal and debt management frameworks and policies need to be strengthened in order to mobilize domestic savings and attract foreign financing.