Quarter of Saudis delay repayments

Around a quarter of Saudi borrowers could have fallen behind on loan repayments to small retail lenders, a credit bureau said yesterday.

Saudi Arabia has many lenders registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade which offer credit for goods such as household appliances. They make up a small percentage of total borrowing in the country.

The Saudi Credit Bureau, set up by 10 commercial banks to improve risk management capability, said a study it had conducted in 2006 suggested around a quarter of borrowers from such lenders were in arrears.

The head of the bureau, Nabil Al Mubarak, rejected an earlier report that a quarter of all borrowers in the kingdom had fallen behind on payments.