Banks operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia increased their investments in government bonds by 1.8% during the month of November 2023 on a monthly basis.
Banks increased their holdings of government and semi-government bonds by 9.6 billion riyals during last November compared to the previous month. According to statistics from Mubasher based on data from the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA).
The investments of banks operating in the Kingdom in government bonds amounted to 532.01 billion riyals, compared to 507.57 billion riyals at the end of October 2023.
On an annual basis, the investments of banks operating in the Kingdom in government bonds increased by 4.8% at the end of November 2023 on an annual basis, an increase equivalent to 24.44 billion riyals over their value at the end of the same month last year, which amounted to 507.57 billion riyals.
Government and semi-government bonds issued by the Saudi government include internationally issued government bonds and instruments that banks purchase from the secondary market.
The National Debt Management Center announced earlier that it had completed receiving investor requests for the local issuance for the month of November 2023 within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s government sukuk program in Saudi riyals, as the total size of the allocation was set at one billion riyals.
Bank investments in bonds represented 78.39% of the total liabilities of banks from the public sector (governmental and semi-governmental) in Saudi Arabia by the end of November 2023.
The total liabilities of banks from the public sector amounted to 678.66 billion riyals, compared to 633.11 billion riyals in November 2022, increasing by about 7.2%, equivalent to 45.55 billion riyals.
It is noteworthy that bonds are a long-term public debt instrument that countries resort to to finance the budget deficit, while sovereign bonds mean that they are a debt instrument issued by the state to raise funds that it uses to cover the deficit, and prove the ownership rights of its holders in assets.
