VOL. XLII

No. 25

21-June-1999

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Banks Defy Asset Quality Concerns

1998 was an eventful year for Saudi banks under the cloudof low oil prices, concerns about asset quality were rife and rumors ofpotential mergers equally prevalent. In its last report on the system in August1998, Moodys Investors Service expressed concerns about asset quality problemswhich the banks might face at the end of the year, while other analystspredicted that a Brent benchmark of $15/B for a protracted...