Owing to a general dip in various asset classes, Saudi Arabia’s investment funds plunged by $6.3 billion in Q1 2022, the sharpest fall the country has witnessed since Q2 2006, according to data from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

While foreign money market instruments witnessed a decrease of $2.3 billion in Q2 2022, domestic shares saw a fall of $1.7 billion in the second quarter of this year. 

According to SAMA data, investment funds assets have been witnessing a downward trend since Q3 2021. Domestic bonds have fallen by $345 million.

In the third quarter of 2021, total assets decreased by $478 million to $63.8 billion. According to the data, total assets decreased by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2021 to $60.3 billion and another 5% in the first quarter of 2022 to $57.4 billion.

The most recent figures suggest that the second quarter of this year saw a startling 11% decline, which totaled $51.3 billion. The kingdom’s second-quarter investment funds included $13.3 billion in foreign and $38 billion in domestic assets.

The data showed that foreign assets have been falling over the last four quarters by $532 million, $1.33 billion, $59.03 billion, and $2.04 billion per quarter. Assets held by open-ended investment funds totaled $42.56 billion in the second quarter, down by $6.65 billion from the first.

On the other hand, close-ended assets increased by $505 million in that quarter, amounting to $8.69 billion. Most of the holdings in investment funds—about 34%—were in domestic money market instruments.