The Central Bank of Bahrain’s Board of Directors held its first meeting for 2025 and approved the CBB’s annual report and audited financial statements for 2024. The Board also discussed the CBB’s investment policy for 2025 and reviewed the CBB’s activities to date in 2025, alongside key monetary and banking indicators. Money supply increased by BD 0.3 billion to BD 16.3 billion at end-December 2024, while retail banks’ total private deposits rose to around BD 14.2 billion (+0.4%) and loans and credit facilities to resident sectors reached BD 12.3 billion (+4.6%), with the Business Sector accounting for 42.3% and the Personal Sector 48.3% of total loans and credit facilities. The banking system balance sheet (retail and wholesale banks) increased 3.9% to USD 247.8 billion, and the capital adequacy ratio rose to 21.2% in Q4 2024 (32.0% for conventional retail banks, 16.9% for conventional wholesale banks, 24.6% for Islamic retail banks, and 19.6% for Islamic wholesale banks). Point of sales data for January 2025 showed 21.2 million transactions (+25.4%), with 77.4% contactless, and a total value of BD 433.0 million (+14.6%), with 51.9% contactless. The number of registered collective investment undertakings stood at 1,741 as of January 2025, while total CIU net asset value increased 0.3% to USD 11.170 billion in Q4 2024, with Bahrain-domiciled NAV down 1% to USD 4.268 billion, overseas-domiciled NAV up 1.1% to USD 6.902 billion, and Shari’a-compliant CIU NAV up 6% to USD 1.715 billion.

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