(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia appointed JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc and Citigroup Inc. to arrange its first international bond sale, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified as the decision isn't public.
The banks declined to comment, while calls to Saudi Arabia's finance ministry outside office hours weren't immediately returned.
Saudi Arabia is shoring up its finances after the slump in oil prices. It has outlined an economic transformation plan that includes increasing government debt to 30 percent of economic output by 2020 from 7.7 percent. The country is weighing a sale of at least $10 billion in five-, 10- and 30-year bonds after Ramadan ends in July, separate people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.
The country has been financing its budget deficit by selling local debt, drawing down foreign reserves and borrowing from international banks. The kingdom sealed its first loan in at least 15 years in April as it seeks to cover a shortfall estimated at about $100 billion this year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net, Stefania Bianchi in Dubai at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Claudia Maedler
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