Kuwaiti banks witness 10% drop in settlement operations in 2023

Personal cash facilities increase by 1.5% in past year

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 14: Settlement operations between local (consolidated) banks witnessed a decrease during 2023 by 10% and by about 27.7 billion dinars, from 287.6 billion dinars in 2022 to 259.9 billion dinars during the past year.

This decline coincides with its decline on a monthly basis during last December by 16.4%, with a value of 4.5 billion dinars, from 27.789 billion dinars in October to 23.206 billion dinars at the end of last November.

According to Central Bank of Kuwait data for December, settlement operations between local banks witnessed an annual increase of 17.1% and a value of 3.4 billion dinars, after it was 19.801 billion dinars at the end of December 2022.

This increase in the balance of commercial financing comes in conjunction with the growth in the balance of the total cash credit facilities provided by banks (total sectors) during 2023 by a rate of 2.1 percent and a value of 1.13 billion dinars from 52.447 billion dinars in December to 53.581 billion at the end of December.

The balance of personal cash facilities provided by banks grew during the past year by 1.5 percent and amounted to 284.2 million dinars, from 18.477 billion in December to 18.761 billion dinars in December.

The balance of consumer loans increased by 300 thousand dinars, or by 0.01 percent, to 1.967 billion dinars in December, and the balance of housing facilities increased by 1.7 percent, and a value of 276.4 million dinars, from 15.74 billion dinars in December to 16.01 billion dinars last December, and private and typical housing loans decreased by 7 percent, with a value of 22.9 million dinars, from 326.3 million dinars to 303.4 million dinars.