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By Andrew Torchia
DUBAI, Aug 30 (Reuters) - The cost of insuring against a Saudi Arabian sovereign debt default has dropped sharply in the past few days because of the rebound of global oil prices, market data showed on Sunday.
Last Monday, five-year Saudi credit default swaps
At their high, CDS implied the world's top oil exporting country had a probability of default during the next five years of close to 10 percent, roughly the same as the Philippines
But in the last few days, oil prices have rebounded sharply and Brent
This has left Saudi CDS quoted at 84 bps - about 30 bps below the Philippines' current level and 14 bps below Spain
With oil prices at $50, Saudi Arabia is still running a state budget deficit estimated by analysts at around 15-20 percent of gross domestic product, but it has huge fiscal reserves which could cover such a deficit for at least several years.
Saudi stock prices
One-year U.S. dollar/Saudi riyal forwards
(Editing by William Hardy) ((andrew.torchia@thomsonreuters.com; +9715 6681 7277; Reuters Messaging: andrew.torchia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SAUDI CDS/