The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has pumped new Saudi Riyal currencies worth SR1 billion to meet growing demand on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, when the Saudi central bank usually issues new currencies in different denominations.

“The newly issued currencies are currently available at SAMA’s branch offices across the country,” said an official at the agency.

He said the new currencies are issued based on the Kingdom’s assets and services. “A drop in the purchasing power of currency leads to monetary inflation and SAMA has taken this point into consideration,” he said.

Most countries in the world print their currencies in foreign countries through specialized companies, such as Banknote of Canada, De La Rue of UK, Giesecke & Devrient of Germany and Crane of Sweden. About 50 percent of 171 countries print part of their currencies abroad.

Giesecke & Devrient, for example, prints the notes of 60 countries, while Banknotes prints those of 20 countries.

SAMA reports said there was little fall in liquidity due to a 4.8-percent decline in deposits in May, when it reached SR196.7 billion, compared with SR206.8 billion the previous month.

However, the Kingdom’s monetary base rose from SR335 billion to SR341 billion during the same period. Monetary exchange outside banks rose by 2.07 percent in May from April 2014, increasing from SR149 billion to SR152.1 billion, a 10-percent increase compared with the same period in 2013.

 
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