* Majed Al Khalidi from Riyadh
Saudi banks raised their balance of government bonds to reach 286.44 billion riyals by the end of July 2018,a raise by 0.8 percent with a value of 2.15 billion riyals, compared to 284.29 billion riyals at the end of June.
According to the analysis of the unit of reports in Al-Eqtisadiah, was based on the data of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "SAMA," the monthly increase of banks in government bonds is considered the lowest in 16 months, which is reflecting the extent of the improvement of public revenues of the state during July. However, the bank balance of government bonds at the end of the period is the highest ever.
According to the analysis, the balance of local banks of government bonds rose by 32.7 percent compared to the same period last year, where the balance was 215.8 billion riyals at the end of July of 2017, an increase of 70.59 billion riyals.
Saudi banks have raised their investments in government bonds since the beginning of this year by 32.02 billion riyals, equivalent to 12.6 percent, compared to the end of last year 2017.
As Saudi banks raised their government bonds in July, local banks continue to increase their investments for the 16th month in a row.
The Saudi banks increased their balance of government bonds during 2017 by 76 billion riyals, compared with an increase of 92.25 billion riyals for the previous year 2016. While the increase for the current year, until the end of July, were about 32.02 billion riyals.
Government bonds accounted for 17.26 per cent of total bank lending by the end of July, while it was about 13.67% during the same period last year "July 2017", and it was about 15.9% by the end of last year.
The public debt of Saudi Arabia is amounted to the end of the first half of this year about 536.95 billion riyals, compared with the end of last year 2017 estimated at 443.25 billion riyals, with a deficit of about 21 per cent.
The internal deficit was amounted to about 289.4 billion riyals, representing 53.38 per cent. While foreign debt at the end of the first half of this year was amounted to about 247.5 billion riyals, equivalent to 46.62 percent of the total public debt.
* Economic Reports Unit
