RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's economy is fast transforming into a digital one during the recent period and the best example of this is the exit of paper currency worth over SR2.5 billion from circulation last month alone. This is equivalent to 1.4 percent of the total value of the currency in circulation, bringing the value of paper currencies of the sixth issue in circulation to about SR176.62 billion in July 2022, it was revealed in the monitoring, carried out by Okaz/Saudi Gazette based on government reports. According to the monitoring, there has been a significant decrease in the circulation of paper currency in all its denominations such as SR5, SR10, SR50, SR100, and SR500. The circulation of SR500, the largest denomination, posted a decline of 1.33 percent. The value of the SR500 currency in circulation reached about SR144.89 billion with an exit of about SR1.95 billion while the paper currency in the denomination of SR100 recorded a decline of 1.47 percent reaching SR22.99 billion with an exit of about SR343.84 million. The paper currency of SR50 decreased by 2.19 percent reaching the value of the traded currency SR5.9 billion in July against SR6.03 billion in the previous month. The paper currency in the denomination of SR10 recorded a 2.42 percent decline, bringing the total value of the currency in circulation to SR1.52 billion, after it was SR1.56 billion in the previous month, with an exit of SR37.61 million from circulation. The paper currency in the denomination of SR5 recorded the highest percentage of exit with 2.69 percent of the total currencies in existence in a month. The value of the currencies in this denomination reached SR1.33 billion in July after it was SR1.36 billion in June. At present, credit cards and debit cards are increasingly being used for even small transactions. As for e-commerce and e-sales that took place through the Mada card, they amounted to about SR10.28 billion in one month. This coincides with an increase of 3.04 percent in the number of transactions, reaching 50.12 million e-transactions, the second highest ever.
