Article 3 of the Saudi Central Bank Law

This article sets out why the Central Bank exists, meaning its objectives, which are three:

1. Maintaining monetary stability: that is, the stability of money and the currency.
2. Supporting the stability of the financial sector and enhancing confidence in it: the Bank is concerned with the soundness of the financial sector and with people having confidence in it.
3. Supporting economic growth.

Note the difference in wording: the first objective is to "maintain" monetary stability, while the other two are phrased as "support." The text does not expressly set an order of priority among them.

These objectives matter because they define the purpose for which the Bank's powers are exercised. The next article, Article 4, provides that the Bank has all the powers needed to achieve its objectives, and then lists its tasks, including issuing and regulating currency, supervising and overseeing financial institutions, setting and managing monetary policy and regulating the foreign exchange market, managing and investing foreign currency reserves, and setting the instructions and procedures that protect the customers of financial institutions. Each of these tasks serves one or more of the three objectives.

It is preceded by Article 2, which gives the Bank legal personality and financial and administrative independence and links it organizationally to the King. Article 1 defines a financial institution as any person subject to the Bank's supervision, oversight and regulation; these are the bodies toward which much of the Bank's work to support financial sector stability is directed.