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  • NDMC’s $9.6bn move set to bolster Saudi Arabia’s resilience


NDMC’s $9.6bn move set to bolster Saudi Arabia’s resilience

The borrowing plan report sheds light on the achievements of 2023, which provide a solid foundation for the Kingdom. (Shutterstock)
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Updated 22 January 2024
MIGUEL HADCHITY 
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NDMC’s $9.6bn move set to bolster Saudi Arabia’s resilience

  • Balancing debt-raising decisions against key risk factors — liquidity, refinancing, interest rates, foreign exchange, and credit rating — NDMC has ensured a prudent and sustainable debt management strategy
Updated 22 January 2024
MIGUEL HADCHITY 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Debt Management Center has unveiled its Annual Borrowing Plan Report for 2024, outlining the Kingdom’s strategies for financing in the coming year. 

The NDMC’s commitment to effective debt management is highlighted by a SR36 billion ($9.6 billion) liability management transaction. This strategic move extended the “Average Time to Maturity,” reducing the risk associated with future maturities. 

Speaking to Arab News, economist Talat Hafiz, emphasized that the Kingdom manages the public debt in a “very professional manner that balances between risks and returns on investments.”

He added: “When the Kingdom settles or prepays any debt, it considers a number of factors, among which the future behavior of interest and exchange rates and the realizable cost saving of early retirement of the debt.”

The borrowing plan report sheds light on the achievements of 2023, which provide a solid foundation for the Kingdom as it seeks to sustain fiscal stability and capitalize on opportunities in the upcoming year.

The Kingdom’s debt portfolio exhibited resilience amid rising interest rates, with the “cost of funding” reaching 3.62 percent, and the average time to maturity extending to approximately 9.5 years by the end of 2023. 

Balancing debt-raising decisions against key risk factors — liquidity, refinancing, interest rates, foreign exchange, and credit rating — NDMC has ensured a prudent and sustainable debt management strategy.

Overview of 2023: A year of strategic borrowing

The Kingdom witnessed a significant growth of its sovereign debt portfolio in 2023, reaching SR1.05 trillion, equivalent to 25.4 percent of the gross domestic product. 

Reflecting on this, Hafiz told Arab News: “The Kingdom is always keen to maintain conservative debt-to-GDP, to avoid loading the Kingdom’s financial system with unnecessary costs of borrowing and also keeping space and room for future borrowing as and when needed.”

He added that Saudi Arabia has set a debt-to-GDP target of 30 percent, which is” very much below world standards of 60 percent.”

The NDMC demonstrated its prowess in debt management by securing SR189 billion in borrowing activities. 

Noteworthy was the successful execution of a domestic sukuk and bond liability management transaction, strategically redeeming maturing securities while simultaneously issuing new ones.

In terms of sources, domestic funding contributed 47 percent of the total, showcasing the Kingdom’s resilience. 

The remaining 53 percent came from international sources, with oversubscription in the international issuances under the sukuk and global medium-term note program indicating strong investor confidence.

2024 outlook and debt raising guidelines

Building on the success of the 2023 liability management transaction, the Kingdom intends to continue borrowing in 2024, not only to finance the budget deficit but also to refinance debt maturities due in the fiscal year.

The total remaining debt maturities for 2024 stand at SR21 billion, while prefunding activities executed in 2023 secured SR14 billion of the 2024 total financing needs. 

The projected budget deficit for 2024 is SR79 billion, resulting in total funding needs of approximately SR86 billion. 

By the end of 2024, the total debt portfolio is expected to reach SR1.11 trillion.

Hafiz highlighted that the 2024 Annual Borrowing Plan includes prepayment of SR21 billion debt balance of last year’s borrowing. He also noted that the Kingdom prepaid SR19 billion in 2023.

Investor relations strategy in 2024

A pivotal aspect of the Kingdom’s debt management strategy for 2024 is active engagement with domestic and international investors. 

The NDMC aims to foster strong relationships through a comprehensive outreach program that will extend across key regions, including Asia, Europe, and North America.

The center also aims at diversifying the investor base. This move is not only a risk mitigation strategy but also a proactive measure to ensure continued access to global debt markets at favorable rates.

The NDMC seeks to provide investors with the latest updates on the Saudi economy, discuss environmental, social, governance and sustainability initiatives, and showcase the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 transformation agenda.
Additionally, it plans to extend invitations to international investors to visit the Kingdom.

This engagement will allow investors to interact directly with government leaders and witness the progress of giga-projects that are shaping the nation’s future.

Economic resilience

As the Kingdom continues its journey toward fiscal stability and economic growth, the proactive measures outlined in the report position it to overcome uncertainties in the global financial landscape.

The strategic debt management initiatives, prudent risk management approach, and investor relations strategy underscore the Kingdom’s dedication to maintaining a resilient and sustainable debt profile.

Saudi Arabia’s high credit rating by Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P of ‘A’ with a positive future outlook, has supported the Kingdom’s credit position and enhanced its financial ability and strong commitment not to default on loan payments, according to Hafiz.

He said: “The Kingdom has proven to the world its strong financial portion and its ability to meet its financial obligations before its due.”

By proactively addressing refinancing risks and diversifying the investor base, NDMC aims to ensure Saudi Arabia has continued access to global debt markets and favorable financing conditions.

Topics: National Debt Management Center (NDMC) Saudi economy

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Saudi-built AI takes on financial crime

Updated 30 January 2026
Tamara Aboalsaud
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Saudi-built AI takes on financial crime

  • Mozn’s FOCAL reflects the Kingdom’s growing fintech ambitions
Updated 30 January 2026
Tamara Aboalsaud

RIYADH: As financial institutions face increasingly complex threats from fraud and money laundering, technology companies are racing to build systems that can keep pace with evolving risks. 

One such effort is FOCAL, an AI-powered compliance and fraud prevention platform developed by Riyadh-based enterprise artificial intelligence company Mozn.

Founded in 2017, Mozn was established with a focus on building AI technology tailored to regional market needs and regulatory environments. Over time, the company has expanded its reach beyond Saudi Arabia, developing advanced AI solutions used by financial institutions in multiple markets. It has also gained international recognition, including being listed among the World’s Top 250 Fintech Companies for the second consecutive year.

In January 2026, Mozn’s flagship product, FOCAL, was named a Category Leader in Chartis Research’s RiskTech Quadrant 2025 for both AML Transaction Monitoring and KYC (Know Your Customer) Data and Solutions, placing it among 10 companies globally to receive this designation.

Malik Alyousef, co-founder of Mozn and chief technology officer of FOCAL, told Arab News that the platform initially focused on core anti-money laundering functions when development began in 2018. These included customer screening, watchlists, and transaction monitoring to support counter-terrorism financing efforts and the detection of suspicious activity.

As financial crime tactics evolved, the platform expanded into fraud prevention. According to Alyousef, this shift introduced a more proactive model, beginning with device risk analysis and later incorporating tools such as device fingerprinting, behavioral biometrics, and transaction fraud detection.

More recently, FOCAL has moved toward platform convergence through its Financial Crime Intelligence layer, a vendor-neutral framework designed to bring together multiple systems into a single interface for investigation and reporting. The approach allows institutions to gain a consolidated view without replacing their existing technology infrastructure.

“Our architecture eliminates blind spots in financial crime detection. It gives institutions a complete view of the user journey, combining transactional and non-transactional behavioral data,” Alyousef said.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Some electronic money institutions using the platform have reported fraud reductions of up to 90 percent.

• The platform combines anti-money laundering and fraud prevention into a single financial crime intelligence system.

• FOCAL integrates with existing banking systems without requiring institutions to replace their technology stack.

Beyond its underlying architecture, Alyousef pointed to several areas where FOCAL aims to differentiate itself in a competitive market. One is its emphasis on proactive fraud prevention, which assesses risk throughout the customer lifecycle — from onboarding and login behavior to ongoing account activity — with the goal of stopping fraud before losses occur.

He described the platform as an “expert-led model,” highlighting the availability of on-the-ground support for system design, tuning, assessments, and continuous optimization throughout its use.

“FOCAL is designed to be extended,” Alyousef added, noting its adaptability and the ability for clients to customize schemas, rules, and data fields to match their business models and risk tolerance. This flexibility, he said, allows institutions to respond more quickly to emerging fraud patterns.

Alyousef also emphasized the importance of local context in the platform’s development.

“The platform incorporates regional regulatory requirements and language considerations. Global tools often struggle with local context, naming conventions and compliance nuances — we are designed specifically with these realities in mind,” he said.

FOCAL is currently used by a range of organizations, including traditional banks, digital banks, fintech firms, electronic money institutions, payment companies, and other financial service providers. Alyousef said results from live deployments have been significant, with some large EMI clients reporting fraud reductions of up to 90 percent.

“Clients benefit not only from reduced fraud losses but also from an improved customer experience, as the system minimizes unnecessary friction and false rejections,” he said. “Beyond financial services, we also work with organizations in e-commerce and telecommunications.”

Looking ahead, Alyousef said the company sees agentic AI as a key direction for the future of financial crime prevention, both in the region and globally. Mozn, he added, is investing heavily in this area to enhance investigative workflows and operational efficiency, building on the capabilities of its Financial Crime Intelligence layer.

“We are pioneers in introducing agentic AI for financial crime investigation and rule-building. Our roadmap increasingly emphasizes automation, advanced machine learning and AI-assisted workflows to improve investigator productivity and reduce false positives.”

As AI tools become more widely available, Alyousef warned that the risk of misuse by criminals is also increasing, raising the bar for defensive technologies.

“Our goal is to stay ahead of that curve and to contribute meaningfully to positioning Saudi Arabia and the region as globally competitive leaders in AI,” he said.

 

Topics: Eye On AI

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