Saudi-Arabien Wirtschaftshandbuch Saudi Arabia Business ... - Ghorfa

national commercial Bank, Jeddah
38
In recent years, the banks in Saudi Arabia have expanded
their operations significantly. The deposits rose by 167%
from 268 billion SR (end of 2000) to 717 billion SR at
the end of 2007, whilst the credits during the same period
rose by 342% from 174 billion SR to 595 billion SR. An
important factor here is that the percentage of the loans
granted to the private sector equated to 80% by the end
of 2007. The main part of these loans were made up by
consumer loans totalling 39%, almost half of which went
toward financing vehicles. In the trade sector, 25% of the
loans were used to finance imported goods whilst 8% of
the loans were granted to the manufacturing industry and
8% to the construction sector.
The government has created five specialised credit institutes
to cover the growing need of the private sectors and
the state companies for long-term loans at favourable conditions.
The Saudi Industrial Development Fund aims to
promote private economic commitment in the industrial
field. In 2006, 29% of the loans granted by the specialised
institutes were used for this purpose. The Public Investment
Fund, which made up 18% of these loans, supports
the financing of commercial projects by the government
and public institutes. The Real Estate Development Fund
offers Saudi citizens an interest-free loan for building
homes, offices or commercial buildings; its percentage of
the loans from this institute totalled 39%. 7% went to the
Saudi Arabian Agricultural Bank, which provides financial
resources for private and public agricultural projects
and 7% of the loans of the specialised financial institutes
went to the Saudi Credit Bank. All the named financial
institutes play an important role in promoting the private
sector and the further diversification of the country’s economic
base.
The Saudi Arabian stock exchange is one of the largest in
the Middle East. It was formally founded in 1984 when
the Saudi Share Registration Company was formed after
many new public companies were founded in the 1970s
and shares were being traded informally. Today, the stock
market is regulated by a committee whose members also
include the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Trade
and the Governor of the Central Bank (SAMA).
The Saudi Arabian stock exchange has continuously
grown. According to information provided by the Arab
Monetary Fund, it leads in the Arab world according
to the listed stocks, the number of traded shares and the
generated turnover. The capitalisation of the Saudi stock
exchange is around 50% of the value of all Arab stock
exchanges together. The share index of the Saudi stock
exchange (1985 = 1,000) rose from 2,028.5 points (1999)
to 8,206.2 points (2004). By the end of 2005, the index
had risen to 16,712.6. After this overheating of the stock
market, the index dropped by 52.5% to 7,933.3 in 2006
thus achieving a normal course level on the stock market
again. The stock market remained calm until the end of
September 2007 (Index: 7.833,4 point) after which the
index rose significantly to 11,176.0 (by the end of December
2007).
During the period 2000 to 2006, the number of shares
traded on the stock exchange rose from 2,774 million to
68,515 million and accordingly the value rose from 65.3
billion SR to 5,261.8 billion SR. This trend continued
even in 2007. The main factors for the enormous increase
in the stock exchange transactions lie in the ongoing
economic growth, the increased corporate profits, in
the growing number of investors and a growing return of
capital that had previously been invested abroad and the
politico-economic reforms.