Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, has taken steps to revive economic growth hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price crash, including making an unprecedented transfer of government funds to the sovereign wealth fund. The country’s economy has been severely hit this year. Saudi Arabia’s budget for 2020, announced in December, assumed an oil price of $60/b, and the country’s fiscal breakeven price is $80/b, according to the International Monetary Fund. That compares with a front-month Brent crude price of $37.84 at the end of May. The government made two exceptional payments to the country’s Public Investment Fund, its sovereign wealth fund, totaling $40 billion in March and April. They were made due […]