Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi banks raised their purchases of government bonds by 20.8% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis or SAR 74.72 billion in July 2020.

The Saudi lenders' investments in government bonds totalled SAR 433.25 billion in July, compared with SAR 358.53 billion in the year-ago month, according to data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).

Month-on-month (MoM), total banks investments in Saudi bonds grew by 1.2% or SAR 5.05 billion.

In the first seven months of the year, banks purchased SAR 49.58 billion worth of bonds, an increase of 12.9% when compared to SAR 383.67 billion at the end of 2019.

Banks investments in government bonds accounted for 86.92% of total banks’ liabilities from the public sector (government and semi-government) by July-end.

In July, total liabilities of banks from the public sector surged 19.04% yearly to stand at SAR 498.48 billion.