Kuwait money supply up 0.3%

Kuwait money supply up 0.3%

KUWAIT: Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) announced on Thursday that the broad money supply (M2) went up by 0.3 percent last May to settle at KD 39.6 billion (around $130.6 billion). Local banks’ private sector deposits increased by 0.6 percent to settle at KD 36.2 billion (around $119.4 billion), said the CBK’s economic research department in a release to KUNA, including statistical tables.

Private sector deposits in foreign currency dropped by 2.8 percent to reach KD 1.7 billion (around $5.5 billion), while total local banks claims on the CBK represented by CBK bonds rose by 6.2 percent, settling at KD 3.4 billion (around $11.2 billion). Total local banks’ assets fell by 0.1 percent to record KD 84.9 billion (around $280 billion), while the net foreign assets decreased by 0.2 percent to KD 10.4 billion (around $34.3 billion).

Meanwhile, time deposits with the CBK settled, in May, at KD 2.6 billion (around $8.5 billion), whereas balance of utilized cash credit rose by 0.1 percent to KD 52.2 billion (around $172.5 billion). Average interest rate on one-year treasury bonds settled at 4.5 percent in November, while financing of Kuwaiti imports went up 75.9 percent to reach KD one billion (around $1.8 billion), and US