JEDDAH: Net foreign assets at Saudi Arabia’s Monetary Agency fell 1.0 percent in October from the previous month to SR2.401 trillion ($640 billion), their lowest level since late 2012, official data showed.

SAMA, which serves as Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has been liquidating assets to cover a huge state budget deficit.

The assets shrank 12.8 percent from a year earlier in October.

They reached a record high of $737 billion in August last year before starting to dwindle.

SAMA’s foreign assets, some of which are managed by global fund firms, are mainly securities such as US Treasury bonds and deposits with banks abroad. Equities are believed to account for only a small fraction of securities holdings, perhaps 20 percent. The bulk of assets are believed to be denominated in US dollars.

The October data showed Saudi Arabia continuing to sell foreign securities actively; the central bank’s holdings of these dropped 4.5 percent from the previous month to $427 billion.

While using some of the money raised to pay the government’s bills, SAMA also built up its deposits with banks abroad, which climbed 10.5 percent to $151 billion.