Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment’s recently released Economic Chartbook for the month of April finds data continues to “show a mildly improving picture,” according to Fahad Alturki, Jadwa’s Chief Economist.
“Economic data continues to show a mildly improving picture in April. POS transactions jumped 11.4 percent, year-on-year, and although ATM withdrawals remain negative year-on-year, they showed an upward trend month-on-month, at -2.8 percent,” Jadwa Investment notes.
SAMA foreign reserve assets fell by $8.4 billion in April month-on-month, which were larger than the declines seen in March, at $5.4 billion.
The bank also found that year-on-year growth in short and medium term bank credit to the private sector has been declining recently, while longer term credit has risen sharply. “As a result, long term credit now makes up 32.4 percent of total private sector loans, compared to 29.3 percent a year ago,” according to Jadwa.
Lower monthly oil prices partly contributed to denting investor confidence and pushed TASI down by 2 percent month-on-month, in May. Listed company results were, for the first time in the Kingdom, reported under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and showed net-income rising by 38 percent in Q1 2017, year-on-year, the Jadwa report finds.
[Click here to read the entire Jadwa Investment Chartbook for June 2017 here] [Arabic]
