Non performing loans and margin pressures to persist Saudi banks are entering 2021 from a position of advantage with higher loan growth and relatively low impairments. Image Credit: Bloomberg Dubai: Saudi banks are entering the New Year from a position of advantage with higher loan growth and relatively low impairments reported in in the first three quarters of 2020. Despite the challenging operating environment posed by COVID-19 and drastic fall in oil prices, 2020 was not such a bad year for the Saudi Banks, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) analysts. The Saudi banks, like others in the Middle East North Africa region, have faced the perfect storm of falling interest rates and a weak and increasingly uncertain economic outlook, with the Saudi economy forecast to shrink 5.6 per cent by the IMF in 2020.