SACE plans to back $1.6 billion in debt to Saudi Arabia

(Reuters, Dubai, 12 February 2024)  Italy’s export credit agency SACE plans to back $1.6 billion in loans to Saudi Arabia over the next 12 to 18 months, the agency’s chief told Reuters, potentially boosting the country's search for outside investment at a time of weak oil prices. Saudi Arabia last month sent requests for proposals to banks for the refinancing of a $10 billion syndicated loan, new bond issuance, and for ECA-backed funding. Saudi Arabia’s national oil giant, Aramco, has also been tapping this form of financing. The company is looking to raise billions of dollars in ECA-backed loans involving agencies across the globe ahead of its planned stock market listing, sources told Reuters last month. SACE, which is meeting prospective clients in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week, is evaluating projects in the Middle East and North Africa worth about $15 billion, $5 billion of which in the United Arab Emirates.