Saudi Arabia’s Al-Rajhi Bank has increased its provisions against bad loans by 24.5 per cent to to SR358.9m ($95.7m) in the first quarter of this year.

The provisioning is an increase from SR288.4m in the same period of 2009. However, provisioning levels have fallen to their lowest level in the past three quarters, after it peaked in third quarter of 2009 at SR594m.

According to data released on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), Samba booked provisions totalling $42.69m in the first quarter, down from the $54.1m reported in the first quarter of 2009, while SABB reported provisions of $47m compared to $31m in the first quarter of 2009.