Weekly Market Brief – 5/6/2022

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) raised key interest rates by 50 basis points following the same move from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Saudi Arabia’s repo rate and reverse repo rates rose to 1.75 percent and 1.25 percent, respectively.

• New residential mortgage financing in Saudi Arabia jumped 74 percent MoM in March to reach SAR15.3 billion ($4.1 billion), the highest level since May 2021. The average mortgage size was SAR804K ($214K). Mortgage financing for land rose the fastest (+562 percent) while financing for apartments (+97 percent) and houses (+35 percent) also increased.

• Saudi Arabia’s private sector non-oil economy continued to improve in April. New orders and output rose while purchasing and inventory growth continued to strengthen. The S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registered 55.7 points, down slightly from 56.8 points last month but well above the 50-point threshold separating growth from contraction. Forward-looking business confidence was down slightly on raw material price concerns.