clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Saudi central bank governor says attack on Aramco had no monetary impact

September 24, 2019 at 7:00 pm

The September  14 attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities had no monetary impact on Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s central bank governor said in an advance copy of an interview provided by Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper that will be published on Wednesday.

Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey was echoing comments made by the country’s finance minister last week, who said the attacks had no impact on government revenue.

Kholifey added that Saudi banks have not seen any unusual movement on money withdrawals after the attacks which initially knocked out half the kingdom’s oil production and damaged the world’s biggest crude oil processing plant.

READ: 75% of output restored at Saudi oil facility

The governor said last week that Saudi economic growth this year will not be far off IMF forecasts.

The IMF expects the Saudi economy to grow 1.9%, slower than the 2.2% in 2018, but some economists are more bearish due to oil output cuts.

He also said last week the central bank did not expect any shortage in Saudi banks’ liquidity but was prepared to support the market if needed.