RIYADH — Foreign investments in Saudi Arabia grew by about 9.4 percent during the first quarter of the year to reach SR1.63 trillion, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported on Saturday quoting indicators of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA). According to SAMA, the growth rate of 9.4 percent represented SR139.3 billion in the first quarter of 2019. It said the annual increase of the foreign investments has reached 19.7 percent worth SR268 billion. The authority said there were three types of foreign investments in the Kingdom. Portfolio investments increased by more than SR80.4 billion, direct investments rose by about SR4.7 billion and other investments increased by SR54.3 billion. It said by the end of the first quarter of 2019, portfolio investments reached SR413.4 billion against SR333 billion during the same period last year while direct investments reached SR870.1 billion against SR865.4 billion the previous year and the other investments rose to SR334.2 billion, compared to SR289.9 billion during the last quarter of 2018.
