Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s (SAMA) total assets declined 6.2% year-on-year in January 2018.

The SAMA’s assets tumbled to SAR 1.901 trillion ($507 billion) in the first month of the year, from SAR 2.028 trillion ($541 billion) in the same month a year earlier, according to a report.

The Saudi central bank’s assets drop was attributed to a 9.2% decrease in its investments in overseas securities, registering SAR 1.224 trillion.

Investments in international securities represented 64.4% of the SAMA’s total assets in January.

On the other hand, deposits at banks abroad, which made up 20.3% of the SAMA’s total assets during the month, rose 2.9% to SAR 389 billion.

Total gold reserves inched up 0.3% to SAR 232.22 billion in January, up from SAR 231.61 billion in the same month the previous year.

Month-on-month, the SAMA’s assets edged down 0.1% in January versus December 2017.