Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain – The Central Bank of Bahrain’s (CBB) Board of Directors held its third meeting for the year 2025, chaired by Mr. Hassan Khalifa Al Jalahma on Sunday, 15 June 2025.
The Board reviewed the topics on the agenda and was presented with key developments related to the CBB’s priorities by HE Khalid Humaidan. In addition, the Board reviewed the CBB’s licensing activities, policies, and other achievements thus far in 2025.
The Board also reviewed key monetary and banking indicators for the period up to April 2025 including the money supply, which increased by BD5.2 billion to reach BD 16.8 billion at the end of April 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. As for retail banks, total private deposits increased to around BD 0.5 billion at the end of April 2025, an increase of 3.5% compared to the end of April 2024. The outstanding balance of total loans and credit facilities extended to resident economic sectors increased to BD12.4 billion at the end of April 2025, an increase of 1.8% compared April 2024, with the Business Sector accounting for 43.3% and the Personal Sector at 48.9% of total loans and credit facilities. The balance sheet of the banking system (retail banks and wholesale sector banks) increased to $244.7 billion at the end of April 2025, an increase of 2.3% compared to the end April of 2024.
Point of Sales (POS) data for April 2025 totaled 21.5 million transactions (77.6% of which were contactless), an increase of 28.5% compared to the same period in 2024. The total value of POS transactions for April 2025 totaled BD 428.2 million (52.5% of which were contactless), an increase of 17.3% compared to the same period in 2024.
The banking sector capital adequacy ratio reached 20.6% in Q1 2025 compared with 22.2% in Q1 2024. The capital adequacy ratio for the various banking sectors was 29.4% for conventional retail banks, 16.6% for conventional wholesale banks, 23.8% for Islamic retail banks, and 21.1% for Islamic wholesale banks in Q1 2025.
The total number of registered Collective Investment Undertakings (CIUs) as of March 2025 stood at 1737 CIUs, compared to 1699 CIUs as of March 2024. The net asset value (NAV) of the CIUs decreased from US $11.551 billion in Q1 2024 to US $11.269 billion in Q1 2025, reflecting a decrease of 2.4%. The NAV of Bahrain domiciled CIUs decreased from US $4.586 billion in Q1 2024 to US $4.411 billion in Q1 2025, reflecting a decrease of 3.8%. The NAV of overseas domiciled CIUs decreased from US $6.965 billion in Q1 2024 to US $6.858 billion in Q1 2025, reflecting a decrease of 1.5%. Additionally, the NAV of Shari’a-compliant CIUs increased from US $1.743 billion in Q1 2024 to US $2.004 billion in Q1 2025, reflecting an increase of 15%.