{"id":108248,"date":"2026-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/?p=108248"},"modified":"2026-05-03T03:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T03:00:08","slug":"net-foreign-assets-inch-up-import-financing-slows-down-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/ksa\/2026\/05\/03\/net-foreign-assets-inch-up-import-financing-slows-down-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Net foreign assets inch up, import financing slows down in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Net <\/strong>foreign <\/strong>assets in the Kingdom\u2019s banking sector edged up to <\/strong>SAR 1.51 tn<\/strong> in March<\/strong>, rising from SAR 1.47 tn in February<\/a>, according to the Saudi Central Bank\u2019s (Sama) latest monthly bulletin (pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The breakdown: <\/strong>The gain was driven by Sama, whose net foreign assets jumped to SAR 1.78 tn from SAR 1.70 tn a month earlier. This offset a widening deficit at commercial banks, where net foreign assets fell deeper into the red to reach SAR 262.3 bn, compared to SAR 230.8 bn in February.<\/p>\n

Commercial bank assets are inching closer to the SAR 6 tn mark: <\/strong>Total assets hit SAR 5.07 tn by the end of March, up slightly from February\u2019s SAR 5.06 tn. Bank credit across all maturities grew 8.2% y-o-y to reach SAR 3.36 tn.<\/p>\n

Where is the money going? <\/strong>Personal loans remain the undisputed heavyweight at SAR 1.45 tn. On the corporate side, credit to real estate activities continues to balloon, hitting SAR 408.9 bn. Other major recipients include electricity, gas, and water supplies (SAR 222.9 bn) and wholesale and retail trade (SAR 218.1 bn).<\/p>\n

MEANWHILE- <\/strong>The mortgage market is feeling the squeeze. Residential mortgages financed by banks dropped 22% m-o-m to SAR 4.19 bn in March. This covered just 6.4k new contracts, a sharp decline from the 8.35k recorded in February.<\/p>\n

Import financing is also slowing down.<\/strong> Settled letters of credit (LCs) for private sector imports fell by 8.8% to SAR 12.03 bn in March, down from SAR 13.2 bn in February, marking the lowest level witnessed in almost three years, Justin Alexander, director of Khalij Economics and GCC analyst for GlobalSource Partners, said in a note<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The drivers: <\/strong>Building materials accounted for the largest portion at SAR 2.71 bn, while motor vehicles fell the sharpest by 38.8% m-o-m to SAR 1.30 bn, \u201cwhich makes sense given disruptions to ports behind Hormuz,\u201d Alexander said. Still, he noted the overall decline was limited, as most other imports are processed through Jeddah.<\/p>\n

The outlook for future imports is even more subdued:<\/strong> New letters of credit opened in March totaled SAR 9.70 bn \u2014 a 17% m-o-m drop. The forward-looking pipeline includes SAR 2.23 bn for building materials, SAR 2.08 bn for motor vehicles, and SAR 1.09 bn for appliances.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

ALSO-<\/strong> Broad money supply (M3) saw an 8.2% y-o-y increase, reaching SAR 3.31 tn in March. Demand deposits remain the primary component at 45.5%, while time and savings deposits (37.6%) and other quasi-money deposits (9.2%) followed. Total liabilities in the survey climbed to SAR 5.64 tn, a 5.7% y-o-y rise.<\/p>\n

SOUND SMART-<\/strong> M3 is the broadest measure of money supply. Think of it as the total liquidity in the system. 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.<\/p>\n

AND- Gov\u2019t bonds reached a new peak in March: <\/strong>Government and quasi-government bonds rose to SAR 659.4 bn, a 7.6% increase compared to March 2025. Meanwhile, bank credit to public sector enterprises stood at SAR 254.5 bn, representing a 17.1% y-o-y jump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Import financing has slowed down amid the Hormuz disruptions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2617],"tags":[19,27,10],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-108248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-banking","tag-economy","tag-enterpriseam-ksa","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"0665e71b-e53d-4e41-ab32-75e6969b6d5f","order":"7","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/5\/48.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Reading the first war bulletin","related_issue":[108237],"teaser":"Import financing has slowed down amid the Hormuz disruptions"},"yoast_head":"\nNet foreign assets inch up, import financing slows down in March - 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