Total assets held by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), jumped more than 8 percent in July as foreign currency holdings remained stable and deposits in banks abroad climbed.
 The central bank’s assets stood at 2.01 trillion riyals ($533.3 billion) in July after growing by 19.5 billion riyals, or 1 percent month on month, from 1.99 trillion riyals in June, according to its latest statistical report.
Deposits with banks abroad climbed more than 35 percent to 331.21 billion riyals, from 244.3 billion riyals at the end of July 2021. However, they fell about 2 percent on a monthly basis, from 338.14 billion riyals in June, data showed.
SAMA’s investments in foreign securities fell slightly to 1.12 trillion riyals in July, from 1.13 trillion riyals a month earlier. Its holdings in bullion and cash remained steady at 1.62 billion riyals and 36.43 billion riyals, respectively, in July.
Credit extended by banks to public sector enterprises — including loans, advances, and overdrafts — climbed to 111.07 billion riyals at the end of July, from 88.43 billion riyals a year earlier.
The total holdings of lenders in government and quasi-government bonds, including international conventional and Sharia-compliant bonds bought by banks from the secondary market, rose to 493.41 billion riyals in July, up from 454.58 billion riyals in the same month in 2021.
The central bank said total property loans by banks at the end of the second quarter of this year rose more than 77 percent on an annual basis to 638.27billion riyals.
Property loans to retail clients almost doubled during the April-June period to 503.23 billion riyals, while credit to corporate real estate clients stood at 135.04 billion riyals, up from 109.62 billion riyals a year earlier, according to Sama’s data.
Foreign currency holdings remained steady at 265.6 billion riyals while the central bank’s miscellaneous assets jumped more than 43 percent to 246.45 billion riyals on an annual basis, according to SAMA’s statistical report for July.
The total assets of commercial banks in the Kingdom grew more than 13 percent to 3.53 trillion ($941.3 billion) riyals at the end of July.
Their total claims on the private sector stood at 2.21 trillion riyals while total credit to the public sector rose to 604.48 billion riyals in the same month.
