Fahad Almubarak, governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), congratulated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on the occasion of announcing the 2023 budget. The new budget focuses on promoting economic growth, addressing challenges and empower the private sector. Almubarak affirmed in this regard that the Saudi Central Bank will continue making progress and achieving its contemplated missions in line with the national economy’s requirements and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. He further noted that the Saudi Central Bank moved forward based on a clear vision of the Kingdom’s financial sector and its future as well as its prospective role in boosting the economy. The Saudi Central Bank has undertaken a number of initiatives in the past period including: Launching the financial technology strategy following its approval by the Cabinet, with the aim of leading the Kingdom to be among the top countries globally in financial technology. This is in addition to the bank’s serious endeavor to facilitate FinTech innovation to drive economic development and raise the level of welfare for citizens. Moreover, the Saudi Central Bank has updated the Framework of its Regulatory Sandbox, which will open the way for financial companies to provide an array of new and innovative financial services. Furthermore, the Saudi Central Bank issued the Open Banking Framework as one of the key outputs of the Open Banking Program, which includes a comprehensive set of legislation, regulatory guidelines and technical standards based on international best practices to enable banks and FinTech companies to provide open banking services in the Kingdom. Almubarak noted that despite the exceptional circumstances in the Kingdom and the world, the Saudi economy has proven a high ability to withstand shocks thanks to range of factors, most notably: the rapid response by the government, the Central Bank and other entities through wise decisions taken to preserve economic gains and to confront the repercussions of these global circumstances. Almubarak affirmed that the monetary conditions in the Kingdom are reassuring as a result of the Central Bank prudent monetary policy. He also commended the banking sector for its financial solvency, operational efficiency, good liquidity, and ability to face current challenges. He asserted that the banking sector has strong Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs), which signals good performance and boosts its resilient. Almubarak noted that Capital Adequacy Ratio recorded 19.4% for the third quarter of 2022, while Liquidity Coverage Ratio recorded approximately 174.2% for the same period, which enhances its ability to face challenges and crises. Regarding other sectors supervised by the Saudi Central Bank, Almubarak stated that the Central Bank will continue to develop the insurance sector structure by consolidating the financial positions of insurance companies, including mergers. It is worth noting that two new merger deals were signed during 2022. According to the governor, merger deals will establish strong financial and operational entities and increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP. He also praised financing companies sector for achieving positive growth indicators, with 45 companies licensed by the end of the third quarter of 2022. Almubrarak also tackled the electronic payments sector and digital transformation in payments, underlining the increase in the number of new licensed SMEs, which would support the local economy and contribute to the digital transformation of payments. He added that nine new FinTech companies were licensed during the current year in the field of electronic payments, bringing the total number of licensed companies to 23. Also, one digital bank was licensed, bringing the total number of Neo-bank (digital banks) licensed by the Saudi Central Bank to three banks. With regards the management of foreign exchange reserves, Almubarak said the Saudi Central Bank is maintaining its approach based on balanced investment policies, use of advanced technologies, and best international practices in the fields of asset management and measurement of performance and risk. This has significantly strengthened the Saudi Central Bank"s financial position. The Saudi Central Bank"s reserve assets grew by 2.8% since the beginning of 2022 until the end of September, culminating to SR1.756 billion, the governor said. Almubarak underscored the Saudi Central Bank commitment to preserve monetary and financial stability, and support the achievement of Saudi Vision 2030 through the Financial Sector Development Program. This will enable the financial sector to strengthen the foundations of the economy to drive the development spearheaded by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince. — SG