Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey revealed on Sunday that Saudi Arabia’s current data has improved and is predicted to record a surplus of SR71 billion in the second quarter of 2018, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Monday.
He said that the money supply recorded an annual decline at the end of July with less than 1% as a result of a decrease in the volume of time deposits and savings by 11%. The monetary base grew by 2.2% in July compared to the same month last year.
He made his remarks during a press conference at the SAMA headquarters in Riyadh to highlight the 54th SAMA annual report.
Alkholifey continued that bank loans for the private sector increased in July 2018 by less than 1% compared to a decrease of 1.5% last year. Consumer loans recorded an annual growth rate of 1% in the second quarter of 2018 while the small and medium enterprises loans increased to 3.9% of total loans during the second quarter compared to 2% in 2017.
He added that the real estate loans grew by 2.3% during the second quarter, amounting to SR217 billion from banks only while financing companies exceeded SR 15 billion and grew by 7.9%.
The Kingdom’s economy grew by 1.2% in the first quarter, the government sector increased by 2.7% and the private sector grew by more than 1%, he revealed. According to the National Accounts Statistics, the consumer spending on current prices increased by 5% during the first quarter of 2018.
He asserted that the per capita consumption rate has recently increased to a higher rate than the previous years by SR32,614, which exceeded the previous periods. The status of SAMA reserves improved to reach SR1.8 trillion with a growth rate of 1.4% in July 2018 compared to the same month last year.
