Gross banks’ assets up by 1.9% to Dhs4,719.4 billion at end of March: CBUAE

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) announced the increase in money supply aggregate M1 by 0.4%, from Dhs982.4 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs986.2 billion at the end of March 2025.

 The increase was due to Dhs5.1 billion growth in currency in circulation outside banks, overriding the Dhs1.4 billion decrease in monetary deposits.

 The money supply aggregate M2 increased by 3.3%, increasing from Dhs 2,360.3 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs2,437.7 billion at the end of March 2025. M2 increased because of an elevated M1, and Dhs73.8 billion increase in Quasi-Monetary Deposits.

 The money supply aggregate M3 also increased by 2.9%, from Dhs2,811.7 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs2,893.7 billion at the end of March 2025. M3 increased due to the growth in M2, and Dhs4.5 billion increase in government deposits.

 The monetary base increased by 2.0%, from Dhs816.6 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs833.1 billion at the end of March 2025. The growth in the monetary base was driven by increases in currency issued by 4.1% and in reserve account by 62.0%, overriding the decrease in banks & OFCs’ current accounts & overnight deposits of banks at CBUAE by 64.2% and in monetary bills & Islamic certificates of deposit by 6.3%.

 Gross banks’ assets, including bankers’ acceptances, increased by 1.9% from Dhs4,632.2 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs4,719.4 billion at the end of March 2025.

Gross credit increased by 1.6% from Dhs2,204.3 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs2,240.0 billion at the end of March 2025. Gross credit increased due the combined growth in domestic credit by Dhs19.5 billion and foreign credit by Dhs16.2 billion. The growth in domestic credit was due to increases in credit to the; public sector (government-related entities) by 0.2%, private sector by 1.4% and non-banking financial institutions by 1.9%, while credit to the government sector decreased by 0.3%.

 Banks’ deposits increased by 2.3%, from Dhs2,871.5 billion at the end of February 2025 to Dhs2,936.4 billion at the end of March 2025. The increase in bank deposits was driven by the shared growth in resident deposits by 2.4%, settling at Dhs2,687.8 billion and in non- resident deposits by 0.4%, reaching Dhs248.6 billion. Within the resident deposits; government-related entities deposits increased by 4.3%, private sector deposits increased by 3.1% and non-banking financial institutions deposits increased by 5.1%, while deposits to the government sector decreased by 2.3%, by the end of March 2025.

WAM