RIYADH: The volume of foreign currencies purchased by the banks operating in the Kingdom grew by 4 percent to hit 1.34 trillion in the last four-month period ending April (2015) compared to SR1.29 trillion in the same period last year, according to a financial report.

Foreign banks were the highest in selling foreign currencies to local banks at SR542 billion, followed by local inter-bank purchases at SR301.1 billion, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) at SR272.1 billion, customers’ purchases at SR148.8 billion, and other sources at SR80.4 billion, Al-Eqtisadiah daily reported.

Meanwhile, sales of foreign currencies by the banks operating in the Kingdom grew by 6 percent to SR1.23 trillion in April compared to SR1.16 trillion last year. Again, sales of the foreign banks were the highest at SR554.8 billion (45 percent), followed by local banks at SR266.8 billion (22 percent), other customers at SR169.3 billion, sales to finance imports at SR65.5 billion, expat personal transfers at SR51.7 billion, and Saudi personal transfers at SR31 billion, the report said.

On the other hand, the volume of foreign currencies in the banks operating in the Kingdom dropped by 18 percent to SR106.5 billion in April, 2015, compared to SR130.2 billion in the same period last year, the report said quoting data released by SAMA.

In a related development, the value of the private sector’s imports funded by the commercial banks stood at SR149 billion in the four-month period ending in April, 2015, compared to SR145.1 billion, or an increase of 3 percent, the report said.

The volume of deposits in the Saudi banks reached SR1.6 trillion by the end of April, 66 percent of which were demand deposits valued at SR1.07 trillion, the report said.