Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,12 May 2020,26 mins

Saudi budget hit by oil price slide

World Business Report

Available for over a year

A falling oil price has led to tax hikes and allowance cuts in Saudi Arabia. The BBC's Middle East business correspondent, Sameer Hashmi, tells us the scale of a drop in profits at state oil giant Saudi Aramco still caught analysts by surprise. And we consider the wider implications of a period of austerity on Saudi citizens with Madawi al-Rasheed, visiting professor at the London School of Economics Middle East Centre. Also in the programme, with massive rescue spending programmes initiated all around the world to stave off the economic effects of coronavirus lockdowns, the BBC's Ed Butler asks what lessons have been learnt from the last time widespread bailouts were dished out, after the 2008 financial crisis. Plus, as governments encourage people to take to their bikes when they return to work, to reduce the pressure on public transport, we ask whether it's likely to be successful, and hear about a scheme in France where bike users can get the cost of repairs reimbursed. (Picture: A Saudi Aramco facility. Picture credit: Getty Images.)

Programme Website
More episodes