Saudi net foreign assets amount to SAR 1.54 tn in April

Net foreign assets in the Kingdom’s banking sector climbed to SAR 1.54 tn in April, edging up from SAR 1.51 tn in March, according to the Saudi Central Bank’s latest monthly bulletin (pdf).

What drove the bump? It mostly comes down to commercial banks shrinking their deficits. Their net foreign asset deficit narrowed to SAR 230.5 bn, down from the SAR 262.3 bn deficit they were carrying in March. Meanwhile, Sama’s own net foreign assets dipped to SAR 1.77 tn from SAR 1.78 tn the previous month.

On the broader front, commercial banks saw total assets hit SAR 5.08 tn by the end of April — up from SAR 5.07 tn in March, marking a 7.8% y-o-y jump. Total bank credit across all maturities also grew 8% y-o-y to reach SAR 3.38 tn.

Where did the money go? Personal loans dominated the credit market with a total of SAR 1.45 tn, followed by corporate credit to real estate activities (SAR 411.1 bn), electricity, gas, and water supplies (SAR 231.6 bn), and wholesale and retail trade (SAR 219.1 bn).

Mortgages are booming: Bank-financed residential mortgages surged 51.1% m-o-m to SAR 6.3 bn in April, driven by 9.6k new contracts, up sharply from 6.4k in March.

Import financing bounces back: Settled letters of credit (LCs) financing private-sector imports fell 20% y-o-y to SAR 12.7 bn in April. Looking m-o-m, however, that’s a healthy step up from March’s three-year low of SAR 12.03 bn.

The drivers: Building materials accounted for the largest share at SAR 3.48 bn, up 28.4% m-o-m. Other major categories included motor vehicles (SAR 1.67 bn), food items (SAR 1.50 bn), appliances (SAR 699 mn), and machinery (SAR 465 mn).

New LCs — our look-ahead for imports — totaled SAR 10.81 bn by the end of the month, up 11.4% m-o-m. This included SAR 2.54 bn for building materials, SAR 1.76 bn for motor vehicles, SAR 1.19 bn for food items, SAR 806 mn for machinery, and SAR 690 mn for appliances.

ALSO- Broad money supply (M3) grew 10% y-o-y to SAR 3.36 tn in April. Demand deposits made up 43.7% of the total, followed by time and savings deposits (39.3%) and other quasi-money deposits (9.4%). Total liabilities in the survey reached SAR 5.69 tn, up 7% y-o-y.

SOUND SMART- M3 is the broadest measure of money supply in an economy. It includes banknotes, current accounts, and other money that can be quickly mobilized (what econ nerds call M2), as well as large time deposits, institutional money market funds, short-term repurchase agreements, and larger liquid funds.

Government and quasi-government bonds rose to SAR 666.9 bn, an 8.1% increase compared to April 2025. Bank credit to public sector enterprises stood at SAR 255.8 bn, representing a 17.2% y-o-y jump.