According to the monitoring of the economic reports' unit in AlEqtisadiah and based on the data of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "SAMA," the value of reserve assets by the end of October reached about 1893.2 billion riyals, which registered an increase of about 2 percent, equivalent to 30.6 billion riyals compared to about 1861.6 billion riyals by the end of last year.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency's balance of payments data indicated a positive improvement in the current account until the first half of 2018, which achieved a surplus of SR 107.1 billion driven by the improvement in the balance of goods and primary income, which recorded a surplus of about 164.8 billion riyals and SAR 15.2 billion, respectively, as a result of the increase in oil exports.
Personal transfers decreased by 4.7 percent to record 64.3 billion riyals during the first half of 2018.
According to SAMA estimates, the current account is expected to generate a surplus of 300 billion riyals by the end of this year.
Official data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) showed significant growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Kingdom, which was amounting to SR 6.6 billion during the first half of 2018.
The growth comes in line with government efforts to boost business environment and economic transformation plans.
It is expected that foreign direct investment flows by the end of the year was about 12.1 billion riyals, according to the expectations of the Agency.
The value of foreign direct investment by the end of the first half of 2018 was about 877.41 billion riyals, with regard to the movement of bank credit.
Total credit for economic activities were amounted to SR 430.1 billion, with an increase of 5.1 percent for the third quarter of 2018 compared to the same period last year.
Mining and finance were the top gainers at 5.32 per cent and 3.15 per cent, respectively.
On the other hand, bank credit to the sectors of trade, construction, transport and communications decreased by 2.8 percent for the third quarter of 2018, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
Together, these three sectors accounted for 5.30 percent of total credit granted during the third quarter of 2018.
* Economic Reports Unit
