Deposits in commercial banks across Saudi Arabia rose by 7.7% to nearly $660 billion last year, the highest in years, the latest data from the country’s central bank showed.

Total deposits held in banks, including corporate and individual account holders and government entities, reached more than SAR 2.47 trillion ($659 billion) as of the end of 2023, compared to over SAR 2.295 trillion a year earlier, according to the Saudi Central Bank's monthly statistical bulletin.

Funds held in demand deposits topped the charts with a total value of SAR 1.3 trillion, followed by business and individual accounts with a total value of SAR 1.09 trillion and time and savings deposits, which reached SAR 864 billion.

The total value of deposits held in Saudi banks surpassed the pre-COVID levels of more than SAR 1.795 trillion, as of the end of 2019.

Total loans logged during 2023 also went up by approximately 10% to SAR 2.583 trillion, from SAR 2.349 trillion in 2022.

Loans with long maturities reached more than SAR 1.255 trillion, accounting for nearly half of the total credit, while short-term and medium-term credit totalled SAR 929 billion and SAR 398 billion, respectively.

Banks in the kingdom extended SAR 27 billion in consumer and credit card loans, up by more than 17% from SAR 23 billion a year ago.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com