Riyadh – Mubasher: Deposits at banks operating in Saudi Arabia increased by 1.7% year-on-year, or SAR 27.89 billion, during the first quarter of 2019.
Total deposits stood at SAR 1.628 trillion in Q1-19, compared to SAR 1.601 trillion in Q1-18, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) said in a recent report.
Demand deposits, which represents 63.4% of the total, levelled up 2.2% to SAR 1.03 trillion during the first three months of 2019, versus SAR 1.01 trillion in the same period of the prior year.
Meanwhile, time and savings deposits declined 1.1% year-on-year, or SAR 4.57 billion, to SAR 425.53 billion by the end of March.
The kingdom’s bank credit grew 3.6% to SAR 1.44 trillion during the three-month period ended in March, from SAR 1.39 trillion in the same period the year before.
The rise of bank lending in the GCC nation was attributed to a 15.3% increase in long-term credit, reaching SAR 496.5 billion, while short-term credit went up 2.8% to SAR 716.21 billion.
