SAMA 2024 Report Affirms Resilience of Saudi Financial System
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) issued its Financial Stability Report 2024, highlighting national and global trends and significant developments in the Saudi financial system, according to a SAMA news release.
The report affirmed that the Saudi economy proved resilient in 2023, supported by a robust financial sector, despite global economic uncertainties. It highlighted the Kingdom's significant progress toward achieving the ambitious objectives of Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the economy. Such efforts increased the share of non-oil activities in overall gross domestic product (GDP) to 49.9%, growing by 4.4 % in 2023.
In 2023, the Saudi banking sector remained well-capitalized, with a capital adequacy ratio of 20.1 %. Banks maintain a sufficient lending capacity to support the Kingdom's economic development, as banking credit continued to grow in 2023, driven primarily by corporate credit, which increased 13.2%.
Furthermore, non-banking financial institutions performed strongly in 2023 as lending by finance companies increased 12.3 % to reach SAR84.7 billion, supporting the notable growth in total assets.
The report also covered SAMA's efforts to enable innovative payment solutions while ensuring a secure environment to mitigate the associated risks. The Financial Stability Report 2024 is available on SAMA's website through the link https://www.sama.gov.sa/en-us/economicreports/pages/financialstability.aspx