The Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Bahrain holds its fifth meeting for the year 2024

Hassan Khalifa Al Jalahma, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Bahrain, chaired the fifth Board of Directors meeting for the year 2024, on the morning of Sunday, December 8, 2024.

The Council reviewed the topics on the agenda, and the Council approved the bank’s budget for the year 2025.

The Council also reviewed the most important monetary and banking developments during the year 2024. In terms of local liquidity, liquidity rates increased, as the money supply reached 16.5 M3 billion dinars at the end of October 2024, an increase of 0.8 billion dinars compared to the same period in 2023. As for the sector banks Retail: Private sector deposits increased at the end of October 2024, reaching about 14.4 billion dinars, with an increase By 3.4% compared to the same period in 2023.

The outstanding balance of loans and credit facilities provided to resident economic sectors also increased, reaching 12.1 billion dinars at the end of October 2024, an increase of 3.9% compared to the same period in 2023. The share of the business sector reached 42.4% and the share of the personal sector reached 49.0% of the total loans. And credit facilities. The consolidated budget of the banking system (retail sector banks and wholesale sector banks) rose to 248.0 billion US dollars at the end of October 2024, by 8.1% compared to the end of October 2023.

Point-of-sale operations data for October 2024 showed an increase in the number of transactions compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 19.4 million transactions (77.4% of which were using contactless cards), an increase of 20.4%. As for the total value of these transactions for the month of October 2024, it amounted to 407.2 million dinars (51.1% of which were using contactless cards), an increase of 13.5% compared to the same period in 2023.

The banking sector maintained a high percentage of capital adequacy and liquidity indicators, as the banking sector’s capital adequacy ratio reached 20.5% at the end of the third quarter of 2024, compared to 19.4% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.

The capital adequacy ratio for the various banking sectors reached 32.0% for the traditional retail sector banks, 16.3% for the traditional wholesale sector banks, 23.5% for the Islamic retail sector banks, and 19.8% for the Islamic wholesale sector banks at the end of the third quarter of 2024.

The total number of investment funds, according to the bank’s records, reached 1,737 investment funds by the end of November 2024, compared to 1,659 investment funds in the same period in 2023.

The total assets in investment funds increased on an annual basis from 10.644 billion US dollars at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to 11.178 billion US dollars at the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 5.0%.

The value of assets in local investment funds increased on an annual basis from 4.390 billion US dollars at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to 4.428 billion US dollars at the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 0.9%.

The value of assets in foreign investment funds increased from US$6.254 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to US$6.750 billion by the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 7.9%.

The value of assets in Islamic investment funds increased from US$1.409 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to US$1.812 billion by the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 28.6%.