At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the Central Bank’s foreign assets increased by 16.7% (q-o-q), reaching AED 681.2 billion. This rise was because of quarterly expansions in Current Account Balances & Deposits with banks abroad by 27.0% (a quarterly increase of AED 94.4 billion) and in Foreign Securities by 10.6% (a quarterly rise of AED 17.9 billion), overriding a reduction in Other Foreign Assets by 22.8% (a quarterly fall of AED 15.0 billion).
From December 2022 to December 2023, central bank foreign assets increased by 37.9% (y-o-y).
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, total assets of banks operating in the UAE increased by 3.1% (q-o-q), reaching AED 4,075.2 billion. During the period between December 2022 and December 2023, the total assets of banks operating in the UAE increased by 11.1% (y-o-y).
Gross credit increased by 0.5% (q-o-q), reaching 1,991.7 billion at the end of December 2023. On an annual basis, gross credit increased by 6.0%.