remarkable interest of the world top investors in the kingdom ’ s investment opportunities. your wise directives have emphasized that the development and investment efforts should cover all the kingdom ’ s regions, which were supported by your regional field visits around the kingdom to increase growth and investment capacities and expand the economic base. custodian of the two holy mosques, inflow of direct investments to various productive sectors is a strong evidence of the kingdom ’ s investment attraction and the interest of both local and foreign investor. part of these investments flow through the capital market which plays a very important role in the economy. it provides additional channels for project financing, and, at the same time, it offers to investors diverse investment instruments. your government has made strenuous efforts to develop the saudi capital market by utilizing state - of - the - art dealing technologies ; increasing the number of financial firms operating in the market and continued floating of joint - stock companies on the market for public subscription. these steps call for optimism as they would further stabilize and deepen the market and enhance investors'confidence and investment awareness. however, the need for boosting more awareness efforts of all categories of market participants on the market is still a challenge that has to be dealt with. custodian of the two holy mosques, in pursuance of mobilizing all efforts to accelerate the pace of economic development, you have issued your wise directives requiring timely dissemination of economic and other information and data with further transparency so as to be available to everyone seeking them as dissemination of accurate information reinforces creditability and helps in thoroughly identification of the economic situation. we are all confident that your continuous efforts in the restructuring process to improve and develop the structure of the domestic economy and continue expanding the private sector's activities will boost economic developments witnessed in the domestic economy. may allah guide your steps to greater success.

fahad almubarak : top achievements of the monetary sector during the past decade speech by h e dr fahad almubarak, governor of the saudi arabian monetary agency, at the national day, riyadh, 25 september 2014. * * * our beloved country is celebrating its 84th national day, which is very dear occasion to all of us. the march of welfare and building continues under the prudent leadership of the kingdom. sama ’ s employees are overwhelmed with happiness on this occasion in light of the achievements of the monetary policy by focusing on the interests of the country and citizens. sama ’ s balanced monetary policy has contributed to strengthening the stability of the national economy during stages of global stress and turbulence. as a result, the credit rating of the kingdom of saudi arabia has been upgraded. fitch upgraded the kingdom ’ s sovereign credit rating to aa from aa - with a stable outlook. over the past ten years, the banking sector witnessed a great development quantitatively and qualitatively. m3 rose by 270 percent to sar 1, 669. 3 billion at the end of july 2014 against an increase of sar 451. 3 billion at the end of july 2004. total bank deposits also went up by 284. 5 percent to sar 1, 520. 6 billion in the same period. total commercial banks ’ claims on the private and public sectors grew by 193. 3 percent to sar 1, 314. 4 billion at the end of july 2014 compared to sar 447. 8 billion at the end of july 2004. all these developments contributed to the growth of the kingdom ’ s economy and enhanced the stability of its financial sector. domestic banks ’ capital adequacy ratio ( basel standard ) stood at 17. 8 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2014, exceeding the prescribed rate of 8 percent. in addition, stress tests conducted periodically by sama on commercial banks showed good results. banking services witnessed further expansion throughout the kingdom. commercial banks ’ branches increased by 53. 8 percent to 1, 862 at the end of july 2014, compared to 1, 211 at the end of july 2004. in recognition of the importance of using latest technological developments in the banking field, sama worked with domestic banks on the introduction of the latest secure banking technology. in this regard, the value of transactions carried out through sarie system picked up to sar 54. 6 trillion in 2013 from sar 8. 1 trillion in 2004. moreover, the total number of