Article 19 of the Saudi Central Bank Law

This article sets out the banking work the Central Bank performs for the government. The two basic conditions:

• The work is done on behalf of the government.
• It is done at the request of the Minister of Finance or his delegate.

The work is of three kinds:

1. Current accounts: opening, settling and following them, and recording government revenue data.
2. Holding deposits and accounts.
3. Supervising the issuance or execution of payment of appropriations, inside the Kingdom and abroad.

This means the Central Bank acts as the government's bank in this work, but the initiative comes from the request of the Minister of Finance or his delegate. The article does not give the details of the procedures for this work.

This article does not mean that the Bank finances the government; it speaks of managing accounts, deposits and appropriations, not lending.

It is preceded by Article 18, which regulates the Bank's external auditor and his responsibility to the Board. It is followed by Article 20, which allows the Bank to enter into bilateral or collective agreements on monetary, regulatory or supervisory policies, conclude agreements with other central banks and foreign supervisory bodies, and open accounts with central banks and local and foreign financial institutions.