Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The finance minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Al-Jadaan has said that the Kingdom was open to discussion about trade in currencies other than the US dollar.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, he said that there were no problems in discussing how Saudi Arabia settle its trade arrangements, whether it is in the US currency, Euro or Saudi riyal.
The kingdom—the world’s largest oil exporter—which has maintained a currency peg to US dollar for decades, is trying to strengthen its ties with crucial trade partners including China. Saudi Arabia is a pillar of a petrodollar system established in the decade of 1970 that relies on pricing crude oil exports in the US dollar.
During Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh last year, both countries agreed to boost coordination on energy policy and exploration. Xi had said at that time that his country would make efforts to buy more oil products for the Middle East and is also keen to settle that trade in the yuan.
Al-Jadaan said in his interview, that Saudi Arabia was enjoying very strategic ties with China and the same relations with the United States and other countries. The kingdom wants to develop these relations with Europe and other states who are willing and able to work with it.
He said that the Kingdom was also working with multilateral institutions to give support to Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey as part of its largesse to nations it deems vulnerable.
The minister further said that his country was heavily investing in these countries and will continue to search for opportunities to invest as it was very important to bring stability.
Saudi Arabia to invest 10 billion dollars in Pakistan
He said that Saudi Arabia is looking to invest 10 billion dollars in Pakistan. It already extended the term of a 3 billion dollar deposit to boost its foreign currency reserves in 2022. The kingdom is now looking for the possibility of increasing the amount.
He added that Saudi Arabia was providing oil and derivatives to support the energy needs of Pakistan. It is also in contact with the World Bank and other institutes to discuss ways to be more creative to provide that support to Pakistan.
