Jan 30 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's M3 money supply growth

accelerated to 13.9 percent year-on-year at the end of December,

the fastest rate since October 2011, after an 11.4 percent rise

in the previous month, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

Bank lending to the private sector surged 16.4 percent in

December, the fastest clip since February 2009, after a 14.9

percent increase in the previous month.

The central bank's net foreign assets reached a record high

of 2.429 trillion riyals ($648 billion) in December, the data

also showed.

SAUDI MONEY SUPPLY END-DEC 12 END-NOV 12 END-DEC 11

M1 change yr/yr (pct) 16.6 12.4 21.6

M2 change yr/yr 13.6 11.5 15.4

M2-M1 change yr/yr 6.2 9.3 2.4

M3 pct change yr/yr 13.9 11.4 13.3

Bank private sector claims 16.4 14.9 10.6

SAUDI C.BANK NET FOREIGN ASSETS

(bln riyals) 2,428.6 2,376.5 2,007.1

pct change yr/yr 21.0 20.5 21.5

NOTE. Percentage changes are a Reuters calculation based on

official data.

($1 = 3.75 Saudi Riyals)

(Reporting by Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Dinesh Nair)

Keywords: SAUDI MONEYSUPPLY/

(Martin.Dokoupil@thomsonreuters.com)(+971 4 362 5832)(Reuters Messaging: martin.dokoupil.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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