& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Steady oil income vital for Saudi growth, stability
RIYADH. Feb 27 : Oli markets and Saudi Arabia's OPEC partners often try to puzzle why the world's biggest oil exporter follows a policy that keeps world oil prices low. reports Reuter.
Economists and bankers In Riyadh say there is no mystery.
The kingdom Is broke after 10 years In the red." one western economist said
After a decade of deficit financing that has wiped out the bulk of Saudi Arabia's foreign reserves. It to determined to hold on to its oil customers to generate a steady income vital for economic growth and domestic political
Saudi Arabia reluctantly agreed at an OPEC conference this month to cut its oil production by 500.000 barrels per day (BPD) to help shore up sagging world prices but refused to go below eight million BPD. a level it Insists on maintaining.
The economists and bankers said the now buoyant domestic economy was sustained by a
steady oil Income at a lime when foreign reserves were at their lowest since the start of the oil boom 20 years ago.
Although the IMF says total reserves stand at about 45 billion dollar, bunkers put at 5-10 billion dollar the amount that is readily available for spending
They would very mu< h like a higher oil price but not al ihe cost of reducing their share of the oil market." an economist said. They know that If they reduce their supplies to a market someone else from within or outside OPEC will rush in to replace the Saudi oil. They were tlic swing producer' once. They are determined II will never happen again." he added.
He was referring to the policy associated with former Oli Minister Ahmed Zaki Yumant where Saudi Arabia would turn the taps on or off to control world oil supplies on OPEC’s behalf.
Yamani was sacked after the 1986 world oil price collapse that started Saudi Arabia s slide into the red
Economists said deficit financing was commonplacc'ln slates like the US and Britain which nevertheless spent a lol of lime and energy trying to reduce their budget deficit.
It was more serious for Saudi Arabia which runs a virtual one-commodity economy,
"Oil Is their major source of revenue. They must secure 11." a Riyadh-based economist said.
After spending an unbudgeted 62 billion dollar in 1990 and 1991 to help fund the allied counter attack that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait a year ago. the kingdom has projected an eight billion dollar deficit this year.
Although this year's cash needs appear secured, the country in the wake of the Gulf War was embarked on a huge ndlitary spending programme and ihe buoyant domestic economy remains largely dependent on government spending. 1
The kingdom does not like to borrow because conservative Muslims regard the payment or receipt of Interest contrary to Islam's ban on usury.
Yet it had to borrow abroad for the first
time last year and state firms such as the giant oil company Saudi Aramco are having Io seek foreign funds for vital expansion plans
Bankers said firms like Aramco previously sought external financing for a modest 10 per cent of their cash needs, the rest coming from their own resources or state funds.
Now they appear to need some 50 per cent external financing, which explains Aramco's recenl 1.5 billion dollar bld from foreign banks, they added.
The government was also tapping the domestic market with among other things weekly treasury 6111 issues.
But lacking a sophisticated domestic market that could adequately recycle those bills to local investors the banks are having to buy them and there is a limit to their ability to continue to do so. bankers said.
The only fallback is therefore Income from oil exports budgeted to a total 32 billion dollar this year that will cover two thirds of Its cash needs, the bankers said.