Profits at commercial banks in Saudi Arabia fell 14.8 per cent in the first two months of 2010, according to data published by the kingdom’s central bank, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) on 31 March.

Saudi Arabian banks made profits totalling SR5.16bn ($1.38 billion) during January and February this year, according to the data.

Sama did not indicate whether the data referred to net profit and described it only as cumulative profit.

The data covers the kingdom’s 11 listed banks, which are due to start publishing first-quarter earnings in April.

Meanwhile, annual growth in Saudi Arabia’s money supply, an indicator of future inflation, slowed to 5.6 per cent in February from 8.3 per cent in January, according to separate data released by Sama.  

Bank claims on the private sector rose to SR742.1bn in February, from SR735.6bn in January and SR730.7bn in February 2009, the data showed.