Kevin Hayes, vice president of corporate finance at Sipchem, says that while he is open to the idea of diversifying the currencies that Sipchem uses for its financing, it is more likely that euros will be used that riyals.

He says: “Our obligation for repayments is mainly in euros and dollars. While we will accommodate regional banks the best we can and are open to the concept of financing in riyals, it does cause some problems for us as we will be taking on risks outside the scope of the project.”

The comments come as local banks increasingly look to finance projects in Saudi riyals so they can sidestep the difficulty and expense of raising long-term dollar funding.