• Saudi reserve assets abroad rise to 1.685 trillion riyals by the end of May

    29/06/2020

    ​Ekrami Abdullah from Riyadh​

    Saudi reserve assets abroad at the end of last May amounted to 1.685 trillion riyals, compared to 1.682 trillion riyals at the end of April, which was 0.2 percent higher, equivalent to 2.5 billion riyals.
    The total reserves of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "SAMA" include gold, special drawing rights, reserves at the International Monetary Fund, foreign exchange, and deposits abroad, in addition to investments in securities abroad.
    According to the monitoring unit of the reports in the "Al-Iqtisadiya" newspaper, based on the data of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "SAMA", the rise in the reserve assets came mainly from the increase in the "foreign currency and deposits abroad" item.
    On the other hand, Saudi reserve assets abroad decreased by the end of May on an annual basis of 13.1 percent, equivalent to 254.2 billion riyals, after it was 1.939 trillion riyals at the end of the same month in 2019.
    And he had transferred 40 billion dollars "150 billion riyals" from the reserves of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency "Sama" to the public investment fund "the sovereign fund of the Kingdom" exceptionally during last March and April, to support his movement to exploit opportunities in global markets.​
    In the details of the Saudi reserve assets items abroad, investments in securities abroad on a monthly basis fell 0.4 percent (4.5 billion riyals), to reach 1.019 trillion riyals at the end of May, compared to 1.023 trillion riyals at the end of the previous month, accounting for 60.5 Percent of foreign reserve assets.
    While the total Saudi foreign exchange and deposits abroad rose to 622.9 billion riyals last month, compared to 615.5 billion riyals at the end of the previous month, a rise of 1.2 percent, equivalent to about 7.4 billion riyals.
    While the "reserve at the Monetary Fund" decreased to 11.86 billion riyals at the end of last month, compared to 11.87 billion riyals at the end of the previous month, a decline of 0.1 percent, equivalent to nine million riyals.
    "Special drawing rights" decreased to 29.75 billion riyals at the end of last month, compared to about 30.06 billion riyals in the previous month, a decline of 1 percent, equivalent to 311 million riyals.​
    With the balance of "reserves" in Saudi Arabia of gold stabilized at 1.62 billion riyals, the same level that it maintains since February 2008.
    The Saudi reserve assets abroad during the year 2019 rose 0.6 percent, "11.05 billion riyals," to about 1.873 trillion riyals, compared to 1.862 trillion riyals at the end of 2018.
    It rose during the year at the highest pace in five years, that is, since it increased by 24.9 billion riyals in 2014, as reserve assets reached 2.721 trillion riyals at the end of 2013, then 2.746 trillion riyals in 2014.
    The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, "SAMA", confirmed earlier that the returns of the investments of Saudi reserves abroad, managed by the institution, are similar to their counterparts in the global central banks.

    Economic Reports Unit​







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