Oil price key to ride out Euro downturn

RIYADH: Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf will open the Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference 2012 at the Al-Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh today. Now in its seventh consecutive year, the highly anticipated event takes place at a crucial time, when political change and economic instability in Europe fan fears of an economic blaze that could affect the Middle East including Saudi Arabia.
"Experts are carefully eyeing the oil price even though Saudi Arabia has enough cash reserves to ride out a temporary economic downturn in the euro zone," said Richard Banks, director of Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference. "However, the government's massive economic stimulus has put Saudi Arabia in a very delicate situation. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi Arabia needs the barrel to be near to $ 80 to cover this budget year. By 2016, the IMF says, oil will have to approach $ 100 a barrel to cover Saudi Arabia's ambitious domestic projects which makes the Kingdom vulnerable to any oil price fluctuations in the future."
In the mean time Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product amounted to $ 577 billion in 2011, positioning the Kingdom's GDP ahead of several European economies including those of Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Norway and Austria, and ranking it number 20 on a global scale.
The relevance of Euromoney Saudi Arabia conference is highlighted by speakers from the public sector such as Al-Assaf, Minister of Labor Adel M. Fakeih, Minister of Planning & Economy Muhammad Al-Jasser, and Minister of Commerce & Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, added Banks.
"GIB is proud to support the Euromoney Saudi Arabia conference as a lead sponsor," said Yahya Alyahya, CEO of Gulf International Bank (GIB). "This year's high caliber agenda looks at the key topics of stability, growth and jobs in the Kingdom. As the leading regional bank, GIB offers its clients innovative financial solutions and is committed to Saudi Arabia's economic development. We are looking forward to this year's conference on May 22-23 and the valuable discussions it will include."
Key entities from the private sector such as lead sponsors Bank Albilad, Albilad Investment Co., BNP Paribas, Gulf International Bank, HSBC, Mobily, NCB, Samba, SambaCapital and Saudi Fransi Capital and Banque Saudi Fransi, will be participating at Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference 2012.
Arab News is the media partner for the event.