The ratings on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia primarily reflect the government's strong external financial position. Foreign reserves of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency have increased rapidly in recent years, and are expected to approach $290 billion by year-end 2007 (from $92 billion in 2004), which is sufficient to cover about 24 months of current account payments (including private transfers). Furthermore, the central government has no external debt, and has no plans to incur any. Overall, Saudi Arabia is expected to have a net external asset position of more than 90% of GDP at year-end 2006. Fiscal outturns also continue to be strong, with the general government surplus exceeding 20% of GDP in 2006. Moreover, the macroeconomic framework was strengthened
