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Stock images for business news illustration of the Saudi Riyal (SAR). Getty Images
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is in talks with SACE, an Italian insurer and export credit agency, for €3 billion ($3.1 billion) in loan guarantees, Bloomberg reported.
If a final agreement is reached, Sace will provide guarantees to a group of international banks lending the money to the $1 trillion sovereign fund, the news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.
The talks follow Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where agreements worth $10 billion were signed. This included SACE guaranteeing a $3 billion financing agreement for giga project NEOM under a multicurrency untied facility.
The volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached nearly $10.80 billion in 2023. The kingdom’s imports from Italy were valued at $5.9 billion, while its exports accounted for $4.9 billion in the same year, including $737 million in non-oil exports.
(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com)