Saudi commercial banks’ June deposits grew 8.7%, its highest in 16 months
Updated 01 August 2022
Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi commercial banks’ deposits grew by SR53.5 billion ($14.2 billion) in June, the Saudi Central Bank, also known as SAMA, revealed on Sunday.
The aggregate sum of time and savings deposits surged 8.7 percent year on year, the highest rate of change since February 2021.
The time and saving deposits at commercial banks grew to SR1.93 trillion, data compiled by Arab News showed.
On a month-on-month basis, it grew 2.8 percent, the fastest monthly rate of change seen since January 2014.
Additionally, the banks’ claims on the private sector grew in June by SR272.3 billion from the same month a year ago to SR2.21 trillion.
Banks’ claims on the sector increased 14.1 percent from SR1.9 trillion in May 2021, data published by SAMA revealed.
Looking at the month-on-month changes, claims in the private sector grew in June by SR37.3 billion to SR2.21 trillion. The claims on the sector increased by 1.7 percent from SR2.17 trillion in May, according to data compiled by Arab News.
Saudi commercial banks’ assets grew by SR117.1 billion over the same period to SR3.53 trillion. Total assets increased by 3.4 percent from SR3.41 trillion in May, the highest monthly rate of change since October 2004, data compiled by Arab News show.
Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals
The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals
Updated 20 January 2026
Arab News
LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.
“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”
Bandar Alkhorayef, Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources
The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”
The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.
“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.
“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.
“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”
Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”
