The Central Bank of Saudi Arabia will continue studying options for using the national digital currency; a decision on its issuance has not been made. This is stated in бюллетене регулятора.
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The central bank continues to focus on assessing the benefits and potential risks of implementing a CBDC.
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At present, the central bank is focused on developing a wholesale-use scenario for the national digital currency in cooperation with local banks and fintechs.
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Other aspects under study include the impact on the economy, market readiness, and the use of a CBDC-based payment solution. In addition, the central bank is analysing political, legal and regulatory implications.
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The launch of CBDC is part of the strategy Saudi Vision 2030 — an initiative to reduce the kingdom’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy and develop sectors of public services such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, leisure and tourism.
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In 2019, the UAE and Saudi Arabia announced a collaboration to create a new digital currency for cross-border payments.
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By the end of November 2020, the parties stated that the Aber CBDC released under the project demonstrated the technical viability of the concept. The authors of the report noted its “significant superiority over centralized payment systems in the context of architectural resilience”.
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In June 2022, BIS specialists named CBDC the basis of the monetary systems of the future.
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