VOL. XLVI

No 20

19-May-2003

SAUDI ARABIA

NCB Results Help To Boost Saudi Banking Sector In 2002

Saudi banks have enjoyed another year of positive growth in profitability in 2002, with sector-wide profits rising $163mn or 6.1% against the previous year to reach $2.85bn. The results follow on from healthy figures for 2001 when the sectors profits grew by $283mn (up 11.8% against 2000) largely as a result of firm oil prices and attractive interest rate spreads (MEES, 26 August 2002). In 2002, the...