Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain – 10 March 2024 – The Central Bank of Bahrain’s (CBB) Board of Directors held its second meeting for the year 2024, chaired by Mr. Hassan Khalifa Al Jalahma on Sunday, 10 March 2024.

The Board reviewed the topics on the agenda and approved the CBB’s annual report and key economic developments for the year 2023, in addition to the CBB’s audited financial statements for the year 2023, and also reviewed the CBB’s activities thus far in 2024.

The Board also reviewed key monetary and banking indicators, including the money supply, which increased to BD 16.0 billion at the end of 2023, an increase of 5.5% compared to the end of 2022. As for retail banks, total private deposits increased to BD14.2 billion at the end of 2023, an increase of 5.0% compared to the end of 2022. The outstanding balance of total loans and credit facilities extended to resident economic sectors increased to BD11.8 billion at the end of 2023, an increase of 4.3% compared to the end of 2022, with the Business Sector accounting for 42.6% and the Personal Sector at 49.5% of total loans and credit facilities.  The balance sheet of the banking system (retail banks and wholesale sector banks) increased to $238.5 billion at the end of 2023, an increase of 6.4% compared to the end of 2022.

As for the first month of 2024, the money supply M3 increased to reach BD 15.8 billion at the end of January 2024, an increase of 0.8% compared to the end of January 2023. As for retail banks, total private deposits increased to BD14.1 billion at the end of January 2023, an increase of 0.9% compared to the end of January 2023. The outstanding balance of total loans and credit facilities extended to resident economic sectors increased to BD11.8 billion at the end of January 2024, an increase of 4.8% compared to the end of January 2023, with the Business Sector accounting for 42.7% and the Personal Sector at 49.4% of total loans and credit facilities.  The balance sheet of the banking system (retail banks and wholesale sector banks) increased to $237.8 billion at the end of January 2024, an increase of 10.4% compared to the end of January 2023.

Point of Sales (POS) data for the year 2023 totaled 183.9 million transactions (77.6% of which were contactless), an increase of 13.0% compared to 2022. The total value of POS transactions for the year 2023 totaled BD 4.1 billion (50.7% of which were contactless), an increase of 7.9% compared to 2022. As for the figures of January 2024, POS data totaled 16.9 million transactions (77.2% of which were contactless), an increase of 13.0% compared to January 2024. The total value of POS transactions for January 2024 totaled BD 377.9 million (50.1% of which were contactless), an increase of 11.3% compared to January 2024.

The banking sector maintained a high level of capital adequacy and liquidity, as the capital adequacy ratio of the banking sector reached 19.7% in Q4 2023 compared with 19.5% in Q4 2022. The capital adequacy ratio for the various banking sectors was 21.9% for conventional retail banks, 18.0% for conventional wholesale banks, 20.0% for Islamic retail banks, and 17.4% for Islamic wholesale banks in Q4 2023.

The total number of registered Collective Investment Undertakings (CIUs) as of January 2024 stood at 1678 CIUs, a decrease of 3.67% compared to January 2023. The net asset value (NAV) of the CIUs decreased from US$ 11.568 billion in 2022 to US$ 11.326 billion in 2023, reflecting a decrease of 2.09%. Moreover, the NAV of Bahrain domiciled CIUs decreased from US$ 5.443 billion in 2022 to US$ 4.309 billion in 2023, reflecting a decrease of 20.83%. Furthermore, the NAV of overseas domiciled CIUs increased from US$ 6.125 billion in 2022 to US$ 7.017 billion in 2023, reflecting an increase of 14.56%. Additionally, the NAV of Shari’a-compliant CIUs increased from US$ 1.107 billion in 2022 to US$ 1.805 billion in 2023, reflecting an increase of 63.05%.