The value of public and private investment funds in Saudi Arabia increased 15 percent during the past yearو compared to 2017, with a total asset value of $77.3 billion.
The Capital Market Authority (CMA) said in a statement on the Saudi stock market news website that the investment fund includes a set of securities selected according to specific criteria that meet the investment fund's objectives, including public and private funds.
The profits of investment funds are usually capital gains, resulting from the improvement or change in the prices of securities invested in them, in addition to dividend profits, if any.
The 15 percent increase, according to the report, is due to a rise in the value of private fund assets reaching $47.5 billion which accounts for 61 percent of total asset values, compared to 2017.
Investment in the markets and investment funds in the public fund assets accounted for the highest value, 74.3 percent of total asset values of public funds. Investment in private funds, stock funds and real estate funds constituted the most important investment types representing 91.3 percent of the total asset values of private investment funds.
Available data showed a drop in the number of investment funds by 6 percent.
In 2018, the number of public and private investment funds in Saudi Arabia reached 542, of which 249 were public and 293 were private. The total number of public and private investment funds in 2017 was about 577 funds.
Saudi Arabia's public investment fund assets grew 1.48 percent in Q4 of 2018, reaching $29.83 billion, compared to $29.39 billion in the same period last year.
Saudi private funds rose 25.8 percent in the Q4 to $47.54 billion, compared with $37.77 billion in the same quarter in 2017.
