04/02/2018
Saudi banks raised their balance of government bonds to 254.4 billion riyals at the end of December, compared with 250.7 billion riyals at the end of November; a rise of 1.5 percent and a value of 3.7 billion riyals. Depending on the data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Al Eqtisadiah's report unit confirms that this is the highest investment of Saudi government's bonds ever that was done by banks.
The local banks' balance of government bonds rose 43 percent (SR 76 billion) on an annual basis, with a balance of SR 178.4 billion at the end of December 2016.
Saudi banks raised their investments in government bonds for the ninth month in a row, raising their balance by 75.7 billion riyals last nine months (from April to December 2017).
Saudi banks increased their balance of government bonds to 178.4 billion riyals by the end of last year, compared with 86.2 billion riyals at the end of December 2015; an increase of 107 percent and an additional value of 92.3 billion riyals in 2016.
Saudi Arabia's public debt grew less than the previous two years, reaching 438 billion riyals by the end of 2017; a growth of 38.4 percent than the previous year. In other words, the growth rate of the public debt during the previous year 2016 was about 122.6%, as well as the growth of 2015 was about 221%.
* Economic Reports Unit
