Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi foreign reserve assets tumbled 8% by the end of November 2017, compared to the year-ago period, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s (SAMA) data on Thursday showed.

Total value of the Saudi central bank's foreign reserve assets hit SAR 1.85 trillion ($493 billion) during November 2017, compared to SAR 2.02 trillion ($543 billion) in November 2016, the SAMA added.

The kingdom's investments in foreign securities stood at SAR 1.2 trillion by the end of November 2017, compared to SAR 1.4 trillion in the same period in 2016.

Year-on-year the amount of foreign cash and deposits abroad reached SAR 583.9 billion in November 2017, compared to SAR 597 billion.

The Saudi reserves in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dropped to SAR 6.1 billion in November 2017, from SAR 7.3 billion in the same month in the year earlier.

Year-on-year, the special drawing rights (SDRs) reached SAR 29.1 billion during November 2017, compared to SAR 27.8 billion.

The monetary gold remained stable at SAR 1.62 billion.

On a monthly basis, the Kingdom’s foreign reserve assets increased 0.2% in November.

Saudi reserve assets include investments in overseas securities, foreign cash, international deposits, reserve status in the IMF, SDRs, and monetary gold.