Riyadh – Mubasher: Jadwa Investment said that any international sovereign bond to be issued by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) should alleviate the pressure on foreign-exchange reserve withdrawals.
SAMA's foreign-exchange reserves fell to $524 billion in January, to hit the lowest level since August 2011, the report said.
The assets of the SAMA decreased 12.55% to SAR 2.03 trillion ($541.3 billion) by the end of January 2017 from SAR 2.32 trillion ($618.7 billion) by the end of the same month a year ago.
The investment firm noted that January's economic data showed a generally positive picture of Saudi Arabia's economic activity.
"While cash withdrawals from ATMs and points of sale (POS) transactions fell slightly, month-on-month, the non-oil PMI continued to edge upwards, reaching a 15-month high," Jadwa added.
Total bank deposits recorded a slight decrease, month-on-month, in January, which was due to a net decline in private sector deposits, against higher government deposits.
Saudi Arabia issued public debt instruments worth $17.5 billion (SAR 65.6 billion) in October 2016, while total subscription requests stood at $67 billion (SAR 251.3 billion).
