Saudi Arabia’s official reserve assets reached $469.83 billion in August, the highest in 21 months and a 10 percent increase year-on-year, according to recent data.
Official reserves or foreign exchange reserves or international reserves refer to foreign-currency deposits held by nationals and monetary authorities. These assets also include gold reserves, special drawing rights (SDRs) and IMF reserve positions.
The latest figures were released by the Saudi Central Bank (also known as SAMA) with holdings that include monetary gold, special drawing rights, the International Monetary Fund’s reserve position, and foreign reserves. Arab News reports that foreign reserves, which comprise currency and deposits abroad as well as investments in foreign securities, “made up 95 percent of the total, amounting to SR1.67 trillion in August. This category led the growth with 10.62 percent increase during this period.”
According to Fitch Ratings, the Kingdom’s reserve coverage ratio, as of February, stood at 16.5 months of current external payments.
In terms of official reserves, Saudi Arabia traditionally ranks very high among all countries. It ranked 7th globally as of April 2024.
The US dollar is the world’s leading reserve currency, representing 58% of the value of foreign reserve holdings worldwide.
List of countries by foreign-exchange reserves, Wikipedia
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