Jeddah: The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has said that the country’s current account balance has seen an increase of 17.6 percent to 170.1 billion riyals in the second quarter of 2022, which is due to the increase in oil and non-oil exports.
According to foreign media, the report issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) stated that exports of domestic goods have increased to 272.2 billion riyals, which shows an increase of 23.1 percent from 221.1 billion riyals in the same period.
Services such as transport and construction saw a decline in the second quarter of 2022, resulting in a 53.9% decline in the sector.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign assets increased by 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2022 to reach 4.9 trillion riyals in the second quarter of 2022, the central bank said.
Portfolio investment, which includes equity and investment fund shares and debt securities, fell 1.1 percent for the second straight month to 1.4 trillion at the end of June.
Trade credit, loans, currency and deposits, which fall under the category of other investments, rose 2.9 percent to 1.1 trillion in the quarter, down from a growth rate of 9.6 percent in the previous quarter.
New residential mortgage loans to individuals within the kingdom rose 76.6 percent from 7.2 billion riyals in July to 12.7 billion riyals in August.
Additionally, consumer loans and credit card loans increased by 2.1 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, from last month. Consumer loans rose to 445.8 billion riyals in August from 436.5 billion riyals in July.
In the same period, credit card loans increased from 19.6 billion riyals to 20.5 billion riyals.
As for Saudi Arabia’s overall bank credit, bank credit rose 1.6 percent between July and August to 2.3 trillion riyals.
