Governor of SAMA holds press conference on latest economic,

RIYADH, October 27, SPA -- The Governor of the Saudi Arabian
Monetary Agency (SAMA) Hamad bin Saud Al-Sayyari said the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia's economic activity continues to grow in accordance with
40 indicators of economic activity, emphasizing confidence in local
banks and revealed that bank deposits in SAMA increased by more than
SR25 billion and that government spending this year soared by 19
percent compared with last year.

In a press conference in Riyadh on Saturday to shed light
on the economic, financial and monetary current global developments,
Al-Sayyari described the financial situation in the Kingdom as
generally good.
SAMA monitors more than 40 indicators of economic activities which
show steady performance and continuous growth as we expect that
growth this year will be good and that this trend will proceed for
next year, he said.
He added that no further change in the exchange rate of the
Riyal against the U.S. dollar, confirming the firmness of the
situations of local banks. "Not a single Saudi bank suffers liquidity
or insolvency problems. Today, the information on the third quarter
performance will be presented on SAMA's Web site, with figures
illustrating in detail the conditions of the banking system", he
said.
He ruled out that there is a tendency of merger among Saudi
banks as they don't incur problems necessitating such a move.
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