Real estate loans, during the first half of this year, rose to 171 billion riyals. The volume of loans to individuals amounted to about 98 billion riyals, and loans to companies amounted to about 72 billion.

<According to a recent report issued by the Saudi Monetary Agency, the increase in individual loans from banks amounted to about 16% compared to the same period in 2014. Experts believe that this increase reflects a tangible increase in the volume of real estate activity, contrary to what some are promoting, and consumer loans witnessed an increase of 3% during the first half of this year to reach about 313 billion riyals, including loans for renovating and furnishing homes, cars, education and health, compared to 278 billion riyals in 2013, and about 300 billion by the end of 2014. Credit card loans recorded an increase of 8%, rising to about 9.6 billion riyals compared to 8.9 billion during the same period last year.