By Mohammed Al-Sobhi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The remittances of expatriates in Saudi Arabia dropped by 5.86% year-on-year in July 2019 to SR 11.46 billion, compared to SR 12.17 billion in July 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, remittances from Saudi Arabia fell by three percent to SR 31.9 billion, compared to SR 32.9 billion in the first quarter of 2018. On a monthly basis, foreigners’ remittances jumped 31.5 percent in July from SR8.71 billion in June. The remittances of foreigners in Saudi Arabia amounted to about SR 136.43 billion in 2018, down by 4 percent compared to SR141.6 billion in 2017.

Meanwhile, the remittances of Saudis abroad rose by 20 percent to SR5.42 billion in July, compared to SR4.52 billion in July 2018. On a monthly basis, remittances from Saudis rose by 54.4 percent from June to SR 3.51 billion.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s (SAMA) report for the month of July revealed that the net foreign assets stabilized on a monthly basis to reach SR1.865 trillion. On a yearly basis, the data showed SAMA’s net foreign assets stabilized by the end of July. Private sector loans rose slightly in July to SR1.48 trillion compared to June and increased by 3 percent, compared with July 2018.

According to recent data of SAMA, monthly sales of points of sale (POS) in the Kingdom increased by 18.7 percent during July 2019 compared to the same month last year, an increase of SR3.59 billion. Sales of ATMs in Saudi Arabia jumped to SR22.77 billion in July, compared to SR19.18 billion in the corresponding month of 2018. POS sales in Saudi Arabia reached SR159.496 billion during the first seven months of 2019, up 20.6 percent from SR132.304 billion in the first seven months of 2018.