Weekly Market Brief – 2/11/2022

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• Saudi Arabia’s economy grew 6.8 percent YoY in Q4, according to flash estimates from the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat). The oil sector increased 10.8 percent while the non-oil sector rose 5 percent. Government services climbed 2.4 percent over the same period. The initial estimate brings Saudi Arabia’s full-year real GDP growth in 2021 to 3.3 percent.

• Sukuk issuances in Saudi Arabia rose by 37 percent YoY to SAR138.4 billion ($36.9 billion) in 2021, according to S&P Global Ratings. Government sukuk accounted for approximately SAR77.9 billion ($20.8 billion), or 56 percent, while corporate issuances accounted for the remainder. Total global sukuk issuances meanwhile declined 0.7 percent to SAR553 billion ($147.4 billion) in 2021.

• Moody’s assigned PIF with a first-time issuer rating of A1 with a stable outlook, citing strong fundamental credit strengths and the ‘very high’ level of interdependence between the government and PIF. Fitch assigned PIF a long-term issuer rating of A with a stable outlook last week.