Official data showed, on Tuesday, that the foreign reserve assets of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (the central bank) increased by 3 percent last August, on a monthly basis.
The Saudi Central Bank said in its monthly report that foreign reserves amounted to 1705.4 billion riyals ($454.8 billion) at the end of August, an increase of 13.3 billion dollars over July.
The Kingdom’s foreign reserve assets amounted to 1655.7 billion riyals ($441.5 billion) at the end of last July.
According to the report, foreign reserves last August were the highest since March 2020, when they amounted to 1775.2 billion riyals ($473.4 billion).
The revenues of the Kingdom, which depends on oil as a main source of income, were affected by the drop in prices and demand for crude due to the outbreak of the “Corona” outbreak, which pushed its reserves to the lowest level in 10 years.
Saudi Arabia lost 50 billion dollars of its foreign reserves during the months of March and April 2020, of which 40 billion dollars were transferred to the State Sovereign Fund (Public Investment Fund).
Saudi Arabia does not disclose the geographical distribution of its foreign reserve assets or even the nature of the assets.
However, the US Treasury Department announces monthly investments of countries in their treasury bills and bonds, including Saudi Arabia, whose investments amounted to 128.1 billion dollars, until last July.
Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, is suffering from a decline in its financial revenues resulting from the decline in oil prices due to the repercussions of the “Corona” virus.
Saudi Arabia recorded a deficit of 79.5 billion dollars in 2020, which is expected to achieve revenues of 205.5 billion dollars, compared to expenditures of 285 billion dollars.
The Saudi government announced the 2021 budget, with spending of $264 billion in return for revenues of $226 billion, and it expected a deficit of $38 billion.
