A quarter of Saudi borrowers have fallen behind on loan repayments, affecting some 200 financial institutions, the head of a credit bureau said.

Consumers who have fallen behind make up 24 percent of borrowers in the kingdom, Nabil Al-Mubarak, head of the Saudi Credit Bureau, was quoting as saying by the website of the English-language daily Saudi Gazette.

The volume of consumer credit fell to 178.9 billion riyals ($47.7 billion) by mid-2008 from 185.4 billion riyals a year earlier, the report said.

The Saudi Credit Bureau was set up by 10 commercial banks to improve risk management capability, according to its website.-Reuters