Saudi reforms to boost growth despite any Aramco IPO delay: IMF

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is moving ahead with economic reforms and growth in its non-oil economy will pick up this year despite any delay to the planned sale of shares in national oil giant Saudi Aramco, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Friday.

“Aramco was one part of the reform program. Other parts are moving ahead pretty well,” Tim Callen, the IMF’s mission chief for Saudi Arabia, told reporters after annual consultations with the Saudi government.

He said the IMF’s projections for Saudi economic growth to accelerate in coming years were based on expectations for a broad range of reforms to continue, and did not include the impact of a planned initial public offer of Aramco shares.

Industry sources told Reuters this week that the sale of a roughly 5 percent stake in Aramco, originally slated to take place this year and raise at least $100 billion for the government, had been postponed indefinitely.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.