Bank deposits in Saudi Arabia recorded growth during the past year 2020 by 8.2 percent, equivalent to 147 billion riyals, bringing the total deposits to the level of 1.94 trillion riyals, compared to about 1.79 trillion by the end of 2019, and growth is the highest pace in nearly six years.
According to a monitoring unit of the reports in Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, based on data from the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia, "SAMA", the improvement comes with support from the growth of individual and corporate deposits of all kinds (on-demand, savings, and foreign) by about 9.3 percent, which is about 76 percent of total bank deposits.
Government deposits in all categories grew by 4.7 percent, which constituted about 21.9 percent of bank deposits. According to the monitoring, the growth of bank deposits in Saudi Arabia improved for the third year in a row from the lowest annual growth achieved in 2017, as it increased by 7.3 percent in 2019, 2.5 percent in 2018, and 0.2 percent for 2017, the year that witnessed the lowest rate. Deposit growth based on available data since 1992. However, the growth rates are still lower than the average of the previous ten years, which amounted to an average of almost 14% annual growth over the period (2005-2014).
The Saudi Central Bank had boosted the banking sector's liquidity by about 50 billion riyals last June, as activation of its monetary policy and strengthening the financial stability of the sector to face the challenges related to Covid-19.
Deposits with Saudi banks are divided into three main types, namely, demand deposits, time and savings deposits, in addition to a third type called other semi-cash deposits, which include deposits in foreign currency and deposits against documentary credits and existing transfers, as well as repo operations executed with the private sector.
Demand deposits (free deposits) grew by 16.7 percent, which constitutes about 66 percent of total bank deposits, or the equivalent of about 1.28 trillion riyals.
While savings deposits decreased by about 5.5 percent, which constitutes 24.4 percent of deposits, the same applies to deposits in foreign currencies, which fell by about 7.1 percent and constitute about 7.4 percent of total deposits.
According to the monthly performance, bank deposits of banks operating in Saudi Arabia continued to grow for the fifth month in a row by 0.5 percent, equivalent to 8.94 billion riyals in December, compared to November, the previous month.
Economic Reports Unit
