Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey, Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), disclosed that the current account data of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is improved and is expected to record a surplus of SR71 billion in the second quarter of this year, adding that the current account is expected to continue achieving surplus this year. He pointed out that the money supply recorded an annual decline at the end of July 2018 with less than 1% as a result of a decrease in the volume of time deposits and savings by 11%, while the monetary base grew by 2.2% in July 2018 compared to the same month last year. He affirmed that bank loans for the private sector increased in July 2018 by less than 1% compared to a decrease of 1.5% last year, disclosing that the consumer loans recorded an annual growth rate of 1% in the second quarter of 2018 while the small and medium enterprises loans increased to 3.9% of total loans during the second quarter compared to 2% last year. Dr. Alkholifey highlighted that the real estate loans grew by 2.3% during the second quarter, amounting to SR 217 billion from banks only while financing companies exceeded SR 15 billion and grew by 7.9%. This came is a press conference held here yesterday at the SAMA headquarters to highlight the 54th SAMA annual report. The SAMA Governor said that the economy in the Kingdom grew by 1.2% in the first quarter, the government sector increased by 2.7% and the private sector grew by more than 1%, adding that, according to the National Accounts Statistics, the consumer spending on current prices increased by 5% during the first quarter of 2018. He asserted that the per capita consumption rate has recently increased to a higher rate than the previous years by SR 32,614, which exceeded the previous periods, pointing out that the status of reserves of the SAMA improved to reach SR1.8 trillion with a growth rate of 1.4% in July 2018 compared to the same month last year. --More 19:18 LOCAL TIME 16:18 GMT 0032 www.spa.gov.sa/1814821
