RIYADH, 5 February 2006 — The Saudi central bank’s net foreign assets rose 4.8 percent in December to SR563.5 billion, while money supply growth slowed considerably in 2005, official figures showed yesterday.
Saudi Arabia is earning record revenues from its crude oil exports, which have swelled state coffers and boosted business confidence in the Kingdom.
Figures released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) showed SAMA’s net foreign assets at the end of 2005 rose 74 percent from their level in 2004.
Net foreign assets in December rose to SR563.55 billion from SR537.67 billion in November and SR324.1 billion in December 2004.
SAMA’s foreign securities investments reached SR369.97 billion in December, up 12.6 percent from the previous month and 87.5 percent up from 2004. Deposits with banks abroad, however, reached SR113.9 billion in December, down 13.2 percent from November maintaining a seesaw trend since September.
Deposits with banks abroad totaled SR48.4 billion in 2004.
December’s M3 money supply grew 1.1 percent from November to SR546.3 billion, and up by 11.4 percent from a year ago. Money supply in 2004 rose 19.1 percent from 2003.
Bank claims on the private sector - an indicator of booming business and investor confidence — rose 2.7 percent in December against 2.5 percent in November — to SR435.9 billion, and 38.5 percent compared to 2004.
Bank loans to the public sector continued their decline of recent years, reaching in December SR159.5 billion against SR163 billion in November and against SR175.8 billion at the end of 2004.