JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s government contacted local banks on Monday to sell them local currency bonds worth SR20 billion ($5.3 billion), which will be allocated next week, the Maaal financial website reported, citing unnamed sources.

The new issues will bring to SR115 billion the amount of bonds issued by the government to local banks this year.

It resumed issuing bonds to banks in July for the first time since 2007 to cover a budget deficit created by low oil prices.

The maturities on the latest bonds will yield slightly less than the previous issue back in November.

The new five-year tranche will yield 1.95 percent, a seven-year portion will yield 2.20 percent, and a 10-year tranche 2.85 percent, according to the website.

In October, Jadwa Investment said that the net monthly change in government accounts with Saudi Arabia came out positive for the first time in eleven months.

“We think this improvement reflects the lower spending by the government compared to earlier in the year,” Jadwa researchers added in a recent report.

Bank holdings of government bonds rose by SR 4.5 billion, month-on- month, said the Jadwa Chartbook.