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Deposits held at Saudi Arabia’s banks surged by 9.4% year-on-year in June 2024, while mortgage activity continued to slow down, the latest data from the Saudi Central Bank showed.
Total deposits in June 2024 stood at SAR 2.67 trillion ($711 billion), compared to SAR 2.44 trillion in the same period last year, the monthly statistical bulletin showed.
Time and savings deposits surged by 17.3% to SAR 903.7 billion in June 2024 from SAR 770 billion a year ago.
While deposits were up by the end of June, lending towards potential homebuyers saw a decline, although consumers did rack up more personal credit.
Banks in the kingdom provided around SAR 5.3 billion in new housing mortgages to individuals in June this year, down from SAR 5.9 billion in the same period last year.
Consumer and credit card loans, excluding real estate financing, finance leasing and margin lending, reached more than SAR 30 billion during the second quarter of the year, rising by 20% from SAR 24.9 billion a year earlier.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
