saudi arabian money
© Reuters
Washington's objective was to pressure Iran, Russia and Venezuela, but instead their main ally in the Middle East is headed for bankruptcy. The U.S.-backed devious manipulation of the international prices of oil has backfired on their main ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, who according to expert predictions revealed Friday could go bankrupt within the next five years because 90 percent of their revenues come from petroleum exports.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest economy in the Middle East and the staunchest producer of oil worldwide, but by the end of this year the country will face a budget of 21.6 percent and a further 19.4 percent in 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest regional economic outlook.

The Saudis are currently facing the worst budget deficit in over six years, and an US$82 billion drop in net foreign assets in the first eight months of the year. The U.S.-controlled IMF urged the Saudi government to readjust their spending or face the consequences.

The IMF explained that Saudi's imminent problems are centered on key elements, primarily that in the Middle East regional conflicts are spreading and deepening, and that prices of oil are being forced to drop in order to drive Washington's foes Russia, Iran and Venezuela - namely -- into crisis. Today, the Middle East is facing the worst refugee and displacement crisis since the early 1990s and this will produce about 10 million unemployed people in the region.

"Achieving fiscal sustainability over the medium-term will be especially challenging given the need to create jobs for the more than 10 million people anticipated to be looking for work by 2020 in the region's oil exporting countries," IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department Director Masood Ahmed told journalists after the report's unveiling in Dubai, according to RT. The report highlights the assertion by many experts that low oil prices will continue in place for the foreseeable future.

"For the region's oil exporters, the fall in prices has led to large fall in revenue, amounting to a staggering $360 billion this year alone," Masood Ahmed said. OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Algeria and Libya have all seen their revenues drop sharply as a result of a decline in oil prices. A solution for Saudi's crisis would be to reduce their oil output, as many countries have asked them to do. The main drive in this proposal has been Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has been exerting great efforts to achieve stabilization of the price of oil at around US$88 per barrel, far from the current US$48.


Reuters reported this Friday that the price of oil had dropped once more to complete two weeks of decline. Geopolitical analyst and writer Ulson Gunar earlier in the year wrote an article suggesting nobody should be surprised that Washington is behind the manipulation of the price of oil. He also accused Western countries of using mainstream media to invent stories "in an attempt to explain why oil prices have conveniently fallen, just in time to pressure Russia, Venezuela and Iran." Washington believes that the three countries took advantage of high oil revenues to pursue an "aggressive" anti-American agenda, which is why they decided to manipulate the price of oil and in conspiracy with mainstream media, they But, he noted, the objective to assert U.S. interests around the world completely failed.


The New York Times published a story exposing Washington intentions against Russia, saying they intended to discourage Moscow from helping the legitimate and democratically elected president of Syria, Bashar Assad. But, it didn't work. Gunar went even further by saying, "The reality is that global oil prices are being manipulated at the behest of the U.S. not only to overthrow the government of Syria or pressure Iran, but to strike at Russia itself." Saudi Arabia has spent close to US$50 billion in Yemen since they began airstrikes and other operations in the country March 26. But rather than signalling retreat from conflicts that are a heavy burden on their economy, the Saudis have signed a US$11.5 billion deal to purchase military equipment from the United States.