The ratings on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia primarily reflect the government's strengthened external financial position. Foreign reserves of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) are increasing rapidly, and are expected to top $220 billion by year-end 2006 (from $92 billion in 2004), which will be sufficient to cover almost 19 months of current account payments (including private transfers). Furthermore, the central government has no external debt, nor does it plan to incur any. Overall, Saudi Arabia is expected to have a net external asset position of more than 90% of GDP by end-2006. The main driver behind the strengthening of the external position has been high global oil prices, and the positive outlook thus reflects the expectations Standard &
