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Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi: Saudi is politicizing Hajj rituals

Saudi Arabia is said to be among the five countries, where the executions were carried out in the largest numbers over 2015.

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They added that no final decision has yet been reached and that talks are still in early stages.

Saudi Arabia is considering selling as much as $15 billion of bonds this year in what would be the country’s first foray into worldwide capital markets, people with knowledge of a matter said.

Saudi Arabia, which relies on oil for three-quarters of its revenue, suffered a 2015 budget deficit of almost $100 billion as oil revenue fell by 23%.

The country has been financing its budget deficit by selling local debt and drawing down foreign reserves.

Saudi cut diplomatic ties with Iran back in January, shortly after its Tehran embassy was stormed by protestors.

But this would be the first time Saudi Arabia has issued worldwide bonds.

Saudi Arabia’s move is hardly a surprise: the country is merely taking advantage of an unprecedented bond bubble inflated by global central banks, where $9.9 trillion in sovereign paper is now trading with negative yields. It traded above $100 a barrel two years ago.

Ohadi also said that Saudi Arabia wanted the names, positions and previous work history of the members of the mission from the supreme leader’s office and the hajj organization. Al Saif joined the ministry of finance on an open-ended secondment from HSBC’s Saudi British Bank, the people said.

“Saudi Arabia is not providing consular services for Iranian nationals”, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency quoted Ohadi as saying.

On an economic level, Saudi Arabia is Italy’s top commercial partner in the Gulf and Italy is Riyadh’s third commercial partner after Germany and France.

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In 1974, the United States turned to Saudi Arabia, flush with cash after a surge in crude oil prices worldwide, to buy its debt.

Richard Nixon and King Faisal at the Riasa Palace