Saudi Arabia plans $2trillion post-oil era fund

Saudi Arabia on Friday revealed the formation of two trillion dollars sovereign fund for the post-oil production phase, a media report said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz said that the move came as the country had passed late 2015 the state budget with a deficit after years of surplus because of the low oil prices on the international markets.

The government lifted subsidies on oil for local consumption and other services such as electricity and water fees, to cope with the new situation.

The crown prince also highlighted that the oil production of Saudi Arabia would not be fixed unless Iran and other oil producer countries fix their production.

It is not clear how the country hopes to fund the new fund, with the sagging fortunes of oil producers.

Saudi Arabia in 1952 created a SAMA Foreign Holdings, which at present has an estimated asset of $632 billion. The country also has  foreign reserves of about $602billion as at January this year.