The sovereign credit ratings on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia primarily reflect the government's strong external and fiscal positions. Net foreign assets sitting with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) amounted to $405 billion at the end of 2009, representing the culmination of consecutive sizeable external and budgetary surpluses in the years up to 2008, despite a modest drop from 2008 levels ($438 billion) reflecting lower oil prices and the government's countercyclical expenditure program. The central government has no external debt and has no plans to incur any. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services expects the general government fiscal deficit to narrow to 0.8% of this year's GDP, from 4.9% of GDP in 2009. We estimate the government's oil price assumption
