JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s M3 money-supply growth accelerated to 12.8 percent year-on-year at the end of January from 10.9 percent the previous month, central bank data showed.

Bank lending growth to the private sector decelerated marginally to 12.3 percent in January, the weakest clip since February 2012, from a 12.5 percent increase in December.

The central bank’s net foreign assets climbed to a record high of SR2.693 trillion in January, up 10.0 percent from a year ago, the slowest rate since February 2011, the data also showed.