The annual growth in Saudi Arabia's M3 money supply fell for a fourth month in a row in August, led mainly by time and savings deposits and other quasi-monetary deposits which include foreign currencies.

But central bank data showed loans to the private sector logged in August had their strongest month-to-month rise since September last year when their growth started to lose momentum on concerns about private firms' solvency amid the global economic slowdown, according to a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama) website carried data showing money supply of 994.7 billion Saudi riyals ($265.3 billion) in August compared to 1.01 trillion riyals in July.

This meant M3's annual growth stood at 12.3 per cent in August against 15.3 per cent in July and 16.4 per cent in June. The month-to-month drop in M3 - the broadest measure of money circulating in the economy - was the first since January and the strongest in several years.

Sama's breakdown of M3 data for August showed this drop followed a 3.4 per cent decline in time and savings deposits, the strongest since January, and a 3.24 per cent drop in other quasi-monetary deposits, which was the strongest since April.