Saudi Banking Sector Begins New Year With Financial Health Efficiency

Saudi Banking Sector Begins New Year With Financial Health Efficiency

Despite the difficulties of 2020, the Saudi banking sector remained resilient, amid banking assurances that the New Year would begin with financial health efficiency.

Talat Hafiz, Secretary-General and Spokesman of Saudi Banks, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the good performance of the Saudi banking sector during the current year was expected to continue in line with the projected improvement in the performance of the national economy.

“This is driven by preliminary growth estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) at nearly 3.2%, increased by the forecast sustainable growth of the economic activity in the Kingdom,” Hafiz said.

He noted that the total assets of banks in Saudi Arabia amounted to about 3 trillion riyals ($800 billion) by the end of November 2020, an increase of 15.24 percent, compared to the same period in 2019.

“Total deposits with banks in the Kingdom amounted to about 1.9 trillion riyals ($507 billion), an increase of 11.95 percent compared to the same period in 2019,” he added.

According to Hafiz, the total volume of facilities provided to small, medium and micro enterprises (MSMEs) amounted to about 176 billion riyals ($47 billion) by the end of the