Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi foreign reserves declined 7.9% year-on-year by the end of December 2017, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) said in a report.
The total value of Kingdom’s foreign reserves hit about SAR 1.86 trillion ($495 billion) in December 2017, compared to SAR 2.009 trillion ($535 billion) in December 2016, the SAMA added.
Month-on-month, Saudi foreign reserves inched up 0.4%.
Investments in securities abroad reached SAR 1.2 trillion by the end of December 2017, compared to SAR 1.4 trillion in the same period in the year earlier.
Year-on-year, the foreign cash and deposits abroad fell to SAR 585 billion during December 2017, from SAR 613.8 billion.
Reserves in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hit SAR 5.8 billion in December 2017, compared to SAR 7.3 billion in December 2016.
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) increased to SAR 29.3 billion in December 2017, from SAR 27.6 billion in the corresponding month in the year earlier.
Cash gold remained stable at SAR 1.62 billion.
Saudi foreign reserves include investing in securities abroad, foreign cash, deposits abroad, status of reserve in the IMF, SDRs, and cash gold.
