According to the data issued by the Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-Stat) these reserves account for 4.9 percent of global financial reserves, placing the GCC region in fifth position globally, following China, the European Union, Japan, and Switzerland.
The growth in reserves is largely attributed to a rise in oil revenues, with the average price of Brent crude hitting approximately $84 per barrel in the first half of 2024. Oil continues to dominate the GCC’s financial resources, complemented by the growth in global financial asset prices.
In addition to foreign reserves, the data also highlights the performance of the banking sector in the region. The total assets of commercial banks operating within the GCC reached approximately $4.3 trillion at the close of the first half of 2024, reflecting an 8.4 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Bank deposits also reached an all-time high of around $2 trillion, marking a 6.2 percent rise from the end of 2023 and a 9.9 percent increase year-on-year. Meanwhile, the total loans provided by GCC commercial banks amounted to about $1.966 trillion, showing an 8.3 percent increase compared to the first half of 2023 and a 5.1 percent increase from the end of 2023.
81.1 percent of these loans were directed to the private sector.
The money supply across the GCC countries has also experienced significant growth. The narrow money supply, which includes demand deposits and cash in circulation, reached approximately $781 billion by mid-2024, a 2.7 percent increase from the end of 2023. The broader money supply, including quasi-cash deposits such as time and savings, grew by 5.8 percent, reaching $1.705 trillion.
This growth in money supply is largely driven by increases in cash in circulation (up by 7.4 percent) and demand deposits (up by 7.2 percent). Quasi-cash deposits also grew by 4.6 percent. Quasi-cash deposits now account for about 54.1 percent of the total money supply, with demand deposits making up 39.4 percent, and the remainder held in cash circulation.
