Abu dhabi: Banking assets continued to record growth during 2025, rising by more than AED780 billion over the year to reach approximately AED5.34 trillion at the end of December 2025, compared to around AED4.56 trillion at the end of December 2024.
According to Emirates News Agency, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) announced that gross banks' assets increased by 1.7 percent from AED5,251.9 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED5,339.9 billion at the end of December 2025.
Gross credit increased by 1.5 percent from AED2,532.9 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED2,570.3 billion at the end of December 2025. Two-thirds of total credit growth was supported by growth of credit in foreign currency (by AED25.8 billion) and the rest by an increase in domestic credit (by AED11.6 billion).
The growth in domestic credit is a result of an increase in credit to the private sector by 0.6 percent, contributing 0.4 percentage points to the overall growth of 0.6 percent, and credit to the Government-Related Entities (GREs) by 1.8 percent, followed by growth of credit to the Other Financial Corporations (OFC) by 10.9 percent.
Banks' deposits increased by 2.2 percent, from AED3,236.6 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED3,307 billion at the end of December 2025. The increase in banks' deposits was driven by the growth in resident deposits by 1.3 percent, reaching AED3,009.2 billion, and non-resident deposits by 12.2 percent, reaching AED297.8 billion.
Within the resident deposits, private sector deposits increased by 2.8 percent, reaching AED2,249.6 billion, and GRE deposits increased by 4.8 percent, reaching AED296.2 billion. Meanwhile, OFC deposits increased by 12.9 percent, reaching AED70.0 billion, while government sector deposits decreased by 10.4 percent, reaching AED393.4 billion at the end of December 2025.
CBUAE also reported an increase in money supply aggregate M1 by 2.2 percent, from AED1,048.1 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED1,071.5 billion at the end of December 2025. The increase was supported by a rise in currency in circulation outside banks by 1.9 percent and in monetary deposits by 2.3 percent.
The money supply aggregate M2 increased by 3.2 percent, from AED2,669.3 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED2,754.7 billion at the end of December 2025. M2 rose due to AED62.0 billion growth in Quasi-Monetary Deposits. The corporate sector deposits increased by 3.8 percent, providing the largest contribution to monthly growth of M2, primarily driven by the growth of their AED demand and savings deposits.
Money supply aggregate M3 also increased by 1.2 percent, from AED3,216.3 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED3,255.4 billion at the end of December 2025. M3 increased due to an increase in M2.
The monetary base increased by 5.4 percent, from AED850.1 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED895.7 billion at the end of December 2025. The increase in the monetary base was driven by the growth in currency issued by 1.9 percent and banks and Other Financial Corporations (OFC) current accounts and overnight deposits of banks at CBUAE by 63.4 percent, overshadowing the decrease in reserve account by 9.1 percent. Meanwhile, monetary bills and Islamic certificates of deposit remained almost unchanged.