Saudi 'Comfortable' with Level of Foreign Reserves

Saudi Arabia has a "very comfortable" level of foreign reserves, the central bank chairman said Monday, despite a drawdown in assets to help cover a fall in oil revenues.

Official figures show the kingdom's reserves declined to $562 billion in August from $732 billion at the end of 2014.

"I think we are very comfortable. We have no issue with that," the governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Ahmed Alkholifey, told a press conference.

Since 2014, global oil prices have collapsed by more than half, accelerating Saudi efforts to move away from petroleum which still accounts for the bulk of government income.

The world's biggest oil exporter is projecting a budget deficit of $87 billion this year.

It has taken a series of austerity measures, including subsidy cuts, reductions in cabinet ministers' salaries and delays in major projects.

Along with drawing on its reserves, Riyadh has adopted other steps to cover its fiscal gap.

It has issued domestic bonds and in October raised $17.5 billion from the kingdom's first international bond issue.

Earlier this year, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who heads the main economic coordinating body, announced a wide-ranging plan to move the economy away from oil.