(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia's crown prince said the kingdom is in talks to sell off a 1% stake in state oil giant Saudi Aramco to a "leading global energy company" as he forecast a rebounding economy in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
The kingdom is looking at the potential sale -- which could be worth about $19 billion -- as a way to lock in customer demand for the country's crude, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said in a rare interview on a Saudi television channel late Tuesday. While providing few details on which company is involved in the talks, he said the sale could take place in the next two years.
"I don't want to give any promises about deals finalizing, but there are discussions happening right now about a 1% acquisition by one of the leading energy companies in the world," Prince Mohammed, the country's de facto ruler, said. "This deal could be very important in strengthening Aramco's sales in the country where this company resides."
The crown prince is increasingly leaning on Aramco, the world's biggest oil exporter, to help finance his plan to transform and diversify the Saudi economy -- an initiative dubbed Vision 2030. That effort has faced hurdles in recent years, with investors spooked by the kingdom's domestic political crackdown and the killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, and then with the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
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A 2019 initial public offering in Aramco raised almost $30 billion that was transferred to the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund. The revenue was meant to support investments to help shift the biggest Arab economy away from a reliance on oil sales. Since then, Aramco has also taken on debt and started selling off some of its non-core assets in order to raise money to fund a $75 billion dividend, most of which goes to the state.
Battered by the coronavirus pandemic, the kingdom last year saw its economy shrink the most in more than three decades, according to estimates from the International Monetary Fund. But the outlook has since improved. The country's budget shortfall is projected to be 4% of gross domestic product by the end of this year, narrower than last year's 12% gap.
Speaking on the fifth anniversary of the launch of Vision 2030, Prince Mohammed said the nation's unemployment rate will fall below 11% this year as the kingdom's economy goes through a "V-shaped" recovery.
"Unemployment will fall to less than 11% this year, then it will reach around 10%, then 7% in 2030," he said in the interview on the Rotana Khalejia television station.
© Photographer: Nicolas Asfouri/Getty ImagesPrince Mohammed bin Salman GETTY Sub
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Photographer: Nicolas Asfouri/Getty Images
Unemployment among Saudi nationals fell to 12.6% at the end of last year, after peaking at 14.9% in the quarter ending in September.
Prince Mohammed also touched on the delicate ties with the U.S., where President Joe Biden's administration has said it wants to re-calibrate a relationship that was a centerpiece of former President Donald Trump's Mideast strategy.
'Neighboring Country'
"There will never be 100% agreement between two countries," Prince Mohammed said. "Between different White House administrations, the margin of differences could increase or decrease but we agree with the Biden administration" about 90% of the time, he added.
Asked about the kingdom's regional rival, Iran, the crown prince softened his tone from previous statements, saying that Saudi Arabia was working to solve its differences with the Islamic Republic.
"In the end Iran is a neighboring country," he said, adding that the kingdom wanted Iran to prosper but took issue with its nuclear program and support for regional militias.
"We're working today with our partners in the region to find solutions to these issues and we hope to overcome them and have a good and positive relationship with them," he said.
Throughout the 90-minute interview, Prince Mohammed also said:
Some of the government's shares in Aramco could be transferred to the sovereign wealth fund, known as PIFThe decision to raise the value-added tax to 15% last year "will be temporary from one to five years maximum, with VAT target at 5% to 10%The kingdom has no plans to introduce an income tax
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