Bahraini money supply growth fell to 13.9 per cent in April, the slowest rate in more than two years, central bank data showed.

M3, the broadest measure of money circulating in the economy, stood at BD7.98 billion ($21.17bn) on April 30 compared with BD7.01 billion a year earlier, the central bank said.

Growth in money supply, one indicator of future inflation, has decelerated rapidly since peaking at an annual rate of almost 37 per cent in June last year.

April's annual money supply growth was the slowest since March 2007.

Month on month, money supply was down almost 1pc as funds held in time and savings deposits declined 2.1 per cent month on month to BD4.6 billion while demand deposits fell 0.9 per cent to BD1.76 billion, the data showed.

The central bank's net foreign assets dipped to BD1.39 billion in April from BD1.42 billion in March, its third straight month of declines. – TradeArabia News Service