Saudi Arabia's foreign assets swelled by nearly SR352 billion in one year to an all time high of SR2.057 trillion ($548.5 billion) at the end of 2011 as a result of high oil prices and a sharp rise in the Gulf Kingdom's crude output, official data showed Sunday. It was the biggest annual increase in the assets controlled by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) since 2008, when they rocketed by a whopping SR513 billion mainly because of a 50 percent rise in crude prices that allowed the Kingdom to record its highest fiscal surplus of SR580 billion. The increase last year was also more than double the assets growth of around SR135 billion through 2010, when they ended the year at SR1,705 billion compared with SR1,570 billion at the end of 2009. Last year's rise was mostly in SAMA's investment in foreign securities, which soared to nearly SR1,437 billion at the end of 2011 from about SR1,181 billion at the end of 2010, SAMA said in its monthly bulletin. Deposits with banks abroad grew to nearly SR414 billion from SR343 billion in the same period, the report showed. A surge in oil prices to a record high average of $110 a barrel allied with a one million bpd increase in Saudi Arabia's crude production to widen its fiscal surplus to nearly SR307 billion in 2011 from SR87 billion in 2011. The Kingdom's current account also shot up to $156 billion from $69 billion. In September, SAMA said Saudi Arabia's foreign assets gained nearly SR74 billion to cross the SR2,000 billion (SR2 trillion) mark for the first time. The assets peaked at an all time high of SR2,001.7 billion ($533.5 billion) at the end of September, an increase of nearly SR74 billion over their level of SR1,926 billion ($514 billion) at the end of August. Saudi Arabia's foreign assets have steadily grown in most of the past 10 years as a result of strong crude prices, gaining nearly SR135 billion through 2010. They recorded one of their largest increases of around SR513 billion during 2008, when oil prices climbed to their highest annual average of nearly $95 a barrel. But a sharp fall in crude prices depressed them by SR139 billion in 2009 to widen the actual budget shortfall to nearly SR87 billion following a record high surplus of nearly SR580 billion in the previous year. From SR1,365 billion at the end of August, investment in foreign securities soared to nearly SR1,387 billion at the end of September.
