SAMA’s Reserve Assets Rise to $467.7 Billion

The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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SAMA’s Reserve Assets Rise to $467.7 Billion

The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The headquarters of SAMA (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) reported an annual growth rate of 5.5 percent in its reserve assets, with an increase of approximately SAR 92.049 billion ($24.5 billion).
The growth brought the total reserve assets to SAR 1.754 trillion ($467.7 billion) by the end of the second quarter of the current year, compared to SAR 1.662 trillion ($443.2 billion) during the same period last year.
According to the Saudi Central Bank’s latest monthly statistical bulletin, reserve assets reached their highest levels at the end of June. On a quarterly basis, reserve assets grew by 2.7 percent, an increase of approximately SAR 46.724 billion, compared to the first quarter, which stood at SAR 1.707 trillion. On a monthly basis, the reserve assets grew by 0.1 percent, with an increase of about SAR 1.146 billion.
Reserve assets have seen a 6.6 percent increase from the beginning of the year until the end of June.
Reserve assets are composed of five main components. The largest of these is "Investments in Securities Abroad," which constitutes approximately 58 percent of the total, amounting to around SAR 1.016 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
The second largest component is "Foreign Exchange and Deposits Abroad," which represents about 37 percent of the total, amounting to approximately SAR 646.3 billion.
The third component, "Special Drawing Rights," accounts for around 4 percent of the total, amounting to SAR 77.2 billion.
The fourth item is the "Reserve Position with the International Monetary Fund," which totals SAR 13.3 billion.
Finally, "Monetary Gold" makes up the fifth component, with a value of approximately SAR 1.624 billion.

 

 

 



UK Inflation Rises Less Than Expected in July

Children play underneath a sprinkler at Parliament Square in London, Britain, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Children play underneath a sprinkler at Parliament Square in London, Britain, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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UK Inflation Rises Less Than Expected in July

Children play underneath a sprinkler at Parliament Square in London, Britain, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Children play underneath a sprinkler at Parliament Square in London, Britain, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

British consumer price inflation rose to 2.2% after two months at the Bank of England's 2% target, a slightly smaller increase than economists expected, and services inflation, closely watched by the BoE, slowed sharply, official data showed.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the annual headline CPI rate would rise to 2.3%.
Sterling fell sharply against the US dollar after the data was published on Wednesday.
When the BoE cut interest rates from a 16-year high of 5.25% at the start of this month, it said May and June's 2% inflation readings probably marked a low point for inflation.
The central bank expected CPI to rise to 2.4% in July and reach around 2.75% by the end of the year as the effect of sharp falls in energy prices in 2023 faded, before returning to 2% in the first half of 2026.
British inflation peaked at a 41-year high of 11.1% in October 2022 driven by a surge in energy and food prices after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as well as COVID-19 labor shortages and supply chain disruption.
The BoE remains relatively focused on longer-term inflation pressures, including services prices and wages as well as general labor market slack.
Wednesday's data showed that annual services price inflation fell to 5.2% in July from June's 5.7%, lower than the Reuters poll forecast of 5.5% and the lowest since June 2022. BoE staff had predicted a drop to 5.6%.
Official data on Tuesday showed that annual wage growth excluding bonuses slowed to its lowest in nearly two years at 5.4%, in line with economists' forecasts but still nearly double the rate the BoE sees as consistent with CPI staying at 2%.