Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi foreign reserves hit their five-month high in August 2020 after hiking to SAR 1.7 trillion ($453.44 billion).

On a monthly basis, the kingdom’s foreign reserves surged by 1.2% or SAR 20.42 billion ($5.45 billion) when compared to July’s level at SAR 1.68 trillion ($447.99 billion), official data from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) showed.

Year-on-year (YoY), foreign reserves dropped by 10.7% last August when compared to SAR 1.904 trillion ($507.95 billion) in the year-ago month.

This decline was attributed to a yearly decrease in investments in foreign securities at SAR 1.02 trillion ($272.14 billion), compared to SAR 1.189 trillion ($317.15 billion) in August 2019.

Year-to-date (YTD), foreign reserves dipped by 9.2% or SAR 173.03 billion ($46.14 billion) when compared to SAR 1.873 trillion ($499.58 billion) at the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, foreign currency and deposits abroad slumped by 5.76% YoY last month to stand at SAR 635 billion ($169.34 billion).

Saudi reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) soared by 39.5% YoY to reach SAR 12.28 billion ($3.27 billion).

Special Drawing Rights (SDR) levelled down by 0.9% yearly to record SAR 30.96 billion ($8.26 billion), whereas the monetary gold reserves remained stable at SAR 1.624 billion ($433.07 million).