Saudi Arabia among world’s fastest-growing stock markets: Al-Jadaan

Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan

Saudi Arabia has become one of the fastest-growing stock markets in the world, Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said in an opening speech to the second edition of the Financial Sector Conference (FSC) today.

The banking sector assets also jumped 37% since 2019 to reach SAR 3.6 trillion in 2022.

Moreover, the number of fintech firms rose to 147 last year from 20 in 2019, he added.

Moving to the new financial reality in the Kingdom, Al-Jadaan said e-payments in the retail sector reached almost 57% of total transactions, with nearly 40,000 ambitious workers and producers trained in the financial sector.  

Elsewhere, the Saudi minister added that the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) doubled since 2016. Banking loans to SMEs represented nearly 7.9% of total. Saudi females own 45% of these SMEs.