- Saudi Arabia's budget surplus jumped to $21 billion in the second quarter as it raked in profits from expensive crude prices.
- The surplus was 35% higher compared to the first quarter, Saudi Arabia's finance ministry said Thursday.
- The budget surplus soared even as spending for the Kingdom increased 16% from the year prior.
Saudi Arabia pulled in huge oil profits and soaring crude prices through the second quarter and it push its budget surplus to 77.9 billion riyals, or $21 billion.
That marks the Kingdom's first budget surplus in nearly a decade, according to Bloomberg.
The nation's finance minister said in a Thursday statement that it marked a 35% increase compared to the first quarter.
The surplus comes even as the world's biggest oil exporter increased spending by 16% to 292.5 billion riyals.
In 2020, the global pandemic hit energy markets hard and Saudi Arabia endured extremely low crude prices, but those fortunes have reversed to dramatic effect amid Russia's war with Ukraine and Europe's energy crisis.
In the second quarter, Saudi Arabia's oil revenue jumped 89% compared to the same time last year. Non-oil revenue, by comparison, climbed 3%.
According to Bloomberg, Saudi officials said previously that they will leverage higher oil revenues to replenish the nation's reserves or deposit capital into its investment funds to break away from the boom-and-bust cycle of the past.
For the first half of the year, Brent crude traded at an average of roughly $100 per barrel.
On Thursday, however, Bank of America forecasted that the price per barrel could hit $130 in the event of a price cap on Russian crude, even if OPEC+ ramps up production.
"Even as recession concerns set in and push oil lower, upside risk to prices could come from fuel substitution and Russia sanctions," the bank said, nodding to the recent 50-day slide in crude prices.