Saudi Arabia is considering listing shares in state-owned Saudi Aramco, the largest oil producer, in a move that would be likely to create the most valuable listed company in the world. Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince, said he was “enthusiastic” about launching an initial public offering of Saudi Aramco and a decision would be made “over the next few months”. His comments to The Economist came as the world’s largest oil-exporting nation struggles to contain a burgeoning deficit of nearly $98bn following the oil price’s spectacular 70 per cent collapse over the past 18 months. The Saudi government recently unveiled spending cuts for this year, subsidy reforms and called for privatisations to rein in its widening deficit. Its annual revenues — tied closely to the price of oil — are forecast by the International Monetary Fund to have plummeted 34.5 per cent last year.