Ahmed Al-Kholifey, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA)

:: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil sector of the economy is still healthy and the private sector will contine to grow, stimulated by reforms, the Saudi central bank governor said on Thursday.

Ahmed Al-Kholifey, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), also said international cooperation was needed to assess the risks and impact of crypto-currencies.

“We warned the public that be careful there is no legal framework protecting you and we need really to understand more and this is what you hear in the international area when you go to meetings, they have the same feeling,” he said at an investment conference in Riyadh.

“I think it means more international efforts to assess the impact of crypto-currencies on financial stability and the financial system in general,” he said.

Separately the authority is also studying how to conduct future money market operations given the rise in debt issuance in the country.

He was speaking at an investment conference in Riyadh against a background of a surge in domestic bond issuance by the government to help fund the budget deficit.

He gave no details of what operations would be considered.