Saudis’ transfer of money abroad records 4-year highest figure, crossing SR7 billion

RIYADH – The transfer of money by Saudis to outside the Kingdom reached more than SR7.18 billion during the month of November 2021, and this recorded the highest monthly amount of remittance that has been made over the past four years, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from the recent data released by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

There has been an increase of SR1.67 billion (30.29 percent) in the monthly rise in the transfer while comparing to the total remittance amounted to SR5.51 billion in the previous month. The value of remittances on an annual basis jumped 48.26 percent, amounting to approximately SR4.85 billion in November 2020.

There has been a decline of 3.75 percent, amounting to SR505 million, in the remittance of expatriates to outside the Kingdom during the last November, reaching SR12.97 billion while compared with October. The remittance of expatriates constitutes 64.36 percent of the total remittances made by Saudis and foreigners.

The total transfer of money by Saudis to outside the Kingdom reached around SR48.57 billion while the remittance of expatriates reached SR149.69 billion during the year 2021.

It is noteworthy that most of the Saudi local banks have recently updated their mechanism for money transfer among the local banks as well as their transfer to outside the Kingdom. The local banks are collecting nominal service charges while offering the money transfer service thanks to the healthy competition among the banks to attract more customers for their digital money transfer services. This has also been instrumental in enhancing commercial activities and monitoring of funds transferred to outside the Kingdom.