Saudi bank deposits grow 3% to $440bln in 2018 SAMA

Riyadh –  Deposits at banks operating in Saudi Arabia rose 2.6%, or by SAR 42.07 billion ($11.22 billion), to SAR 1.661 trillion ($440 billion) during 2018, compared to SAR 1.619 trillion ($431.75 billion) in 2017, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) revealed.

The Saudi central bank attributed the growth in deposits to a 3.8% or SAR 37.73 billion increase in demand deposits, reaching SAR 1.038 trillion by the end of 2018, up from SAR 1 trillion during 2017.

On the other hand, time and saving deposits decreased by SAR 8.8 billion, or 1.9%, to SAR 439.02 billion from January to December 2018, compared to SAR 447.83 billion in the corresponding months of 2017.

Quasi-monetary deposits grew 7.7% year-on-year to SAR 184.27 billion in 2018 from SAR 171.13 billion, according to SAMA's report.

SAMA’s bank credit

Bank credit levelled up SAR 39.37 billion, or 2.8%, to SAR 1.426 trillion, from SAR 1.389 trillion in 2017, it said, ascribing the increase to a rise in the value of long-term and short-term banking credit.

Short-term credit rose 2.2% to SAR 707.1 billion in the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2018, from SAR 692.2 billion a year ago, while the value of long-term credit jumped 15.3% to SAR 494.14 billion from January to December 2018, compared to SAR 428.72 billion in the same period of 2017.

On the other hand, medium-term credit tumbled 15.4% year-on-year to SAR 224.65 billion in 2018, compared to SAR 265.59 billion.