*Majed Al-Khalidi from Riyadh
Medium-term bank loans to the private sector at the end of February were up by 4.8 percent compared to the same period last year.
The volume of loans amounted to about 268.2 billion riyals, an increase of about 12.34 billion riyals, compared to February 2017, is amounting to about 255.8 billion riyals.
According to a report by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the volume of medium-term bank credit since December has been positive for the third month in a row. In December 2017, it grew by 0.3 percent, as well as in January, by 3.1 percent, while in February 2018 grew by 4.8 percent annually.
Despite the improvement in medium-term lending as well as relatively short-term credit, long-term bank lending recorded negative growth on a year-on-year basis in February, by 0.5 percent.
Medium-term loans accounted for 19.3 percent of total bank loans by the end of February of this year, while accounting for 18.3% of total loans during the same period last year.
Short-term loans accounted for 49.5 percent at the end of February is reaching about 687 billion riyals.
Long-term loans account for 31.2 percent, at 434 billion riyals at the end of February.
On a monthly basis, short-term lending at the end of February 2018 grew by 0.9 percent compared to January.
While, medium-term lending and long-term lending grew by 0.4 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
Local banks had raised their outstanding government bonds by about SR 269.39 billion by the end of February, compared by about SR 178.8 billion during the same period last year, which is up 50.6 percent by about SR 91.04 billion.
Local banks' balance of government bonds rose by about 2.7 per cent on a monthly basis.
The bank deposits at the end of February reached about 1.610 trillion riyals, a large part of which is due to demand deposits. These bank deposits recorded annual growth of 1.5%.
* Economic Reports Unit
