The UAE gross bank assets, including bankers’ acceptances, reached Dh2.688 trillion ($733 billion) at the end of January, reflecting a 0.3  per cent fall from Dh2.695 trillion at the end of prior-month, figures by the UAE Central Bank showed.

Gross credit in the banking system, increased by 0.5  per cent for the same period to Dh1.588 trillion from around Dh1.581 trillion in December.

Total bank deposits, however, decreased by Dh5.2 billion.

In the meantime, the bank announced that the Money Supply aggregate M1 increased by 1.1 per cent, from Dh492.4 billion at the end of December 2017 to Dh498 billion at the end of January 2018.

The Money Supply aggregate M2 increased by 0.1 per cent, from Dh 1276.2 billion at the end of December 2017 to Dh 1277.2 billion at the end of January 2018.

The Money Supply aggregate M3 decreased by 0.4 per cent, from Dh 1487.1 billion at the end of December 2017 to Dh 1480.9 billion at the end of January 2018.

The increase in M1 was mainly due to a rise of Dh 5 billion in Monetary Deposits. The increase in M2 was brought about by the increase in M1, overshadowing a Dh 4.6 billion reduction in Quasi-Monetary Deposits. M3 mainly fell due to Dh 7.2 billion reduction in Government Deposits.