Riyadh – Mubasher: Recent data released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the Saudi central bank, showed an improvement in consumer spending in July 2017.
Both points of sale (POS) transactions and ATM withdrawals showed best growth rates in nine months, according to a report by Al Rajhi Capital, noting that it could not predict whether this improvement can be sustained or not.
On the other hand, credit to the private sector continued to decline, indicating sluggish private sector economic activity.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom’s fiscal position improved further in the second quarter of the year, supported by higher oil revenue and lower expenditure, while fiscal deficit declined to SAR 46.5 billion versus SAR 58 billion the year before.
Saudi Arabia saw lower deficit in H1-17, constituting only 37% of the government’s deficit projection for the entire year.
SAMA’s reserve assets resumed the downtrend, slipping 1.2% month-on-month to SAR 1.85 trillion, after a brief monthly rise in June 2017, despite the government raising local debt in July, the report added.
“The [Saudi] government continues to push for privatization, which will help reduce the burden of the expenditure on government finances, the latest step being floating tenders for greenfield and brownfield expansion projects across a dozen airports,” Al Rajhi Capital added.
