News - Middle East: Saudi Arabia is borrowing to help fund an array of ambitious projects including the $500 billion Neom desert megacity, leaving negative repercussions on the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is providing funding for cornerstone "gigaprojects" estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars apiece.

However, the fund's cash has been depleted to its lowest level since December 2020, with about $15 billion on hand, The Journal reported.

The kingdom is turning to borrowing for the first time in many years to boost its funds, as well as selling more shares in state oil company Aramco, per the report.

According to the newspaper, projects like a $48 billion real estate development project, a global airline to compete with aviation giants, and a $100 billion investment in chips and electronics have strained Saudi Arabia's treasury.

"It's mind-boggling the amount of stuff that's trying to be done here,"  Tim Callen, a visiting fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute think tank in Washington, told The Journal.

He said Saudi Arabia may need to raise another $270 billion for the Public Investment Fund by 2030. That is likely to require further borrowing, as well as eating into foreign currency reserves used to peg the Saudi riyal to the dollar.

As part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has also earmarked $62 billion to develop the ancient city of Diryah, $23.6 billion for developing a luxury Red Sea eco-resort, and $5 billion for transforming a Persian Gulf oil rig into an adventure tourism resort, among a huge range of projects.

Saudi Arabia is expected to suffer a budget deficit of $21 billion this year, or about 2% of the country's gross domestic product, and Riyadh expects to record a small annual deficit until 2026, a change from previous expectations of surpluses.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia's debt is expected to reach 26% of gross domestic product this year, after reaching its lowest level at 1.5% a decade ago.