By: Waleed Abd El-Salam
Riyadh - Mubasher: Consumer loans and credit card finance increased to 24.8% of bank loans in Saudi Arabia which total SAR 1.4 trillion.
Consumer and credit card loans reached SAR 355.265 billion ($94.59 billion) in the third quarter of 2016, up 0.53% compared to Q2, when it registered SAR 353.403 billion ($92.24 billion), and up 7.86% compared to Q3-15, when it recorded SAR 329.354 billion.
Consumer lending includes eight categories, car and personal transport, real estate restoration and improvement, furniture and durable goods, education, health care, and other.
Car loans accounted for 9.58% of total consumer loans, registering nearly SAR 33 billion, increasing 19.4% compared to Q3-15.
Other consumer loans had the biggest share, as it accounted for 16.35% of total loans, and recorded SAR 29.8 billion in Q3-16, compared to SAR 35.63 billion Q3-15.
On the other hand, travel and tourism loans accounted for the smallest share, registering SAR 79 million or 0.02% of total consumer loans in Q3-16.
