Banks of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) registered a surge of 34.7 percent in their total assets in 2006, UAE's local newspaper Gulf News reported on Sunday.

According to a report released by the UAE Central Bank, the total assets of UAE banks reached 859.6 billion dirhams (234.2 billion U.S. dollars), 34.7 percent up compared to 174 billion dollars in 2005, the paper said.

The official statistics showed that foreign assets comprised 27 percent of the total, representing a slight decline compared to 27. 4 percent in 2005.

The value of deposits, excluding the inter-bank deposits, grew by about 22 percent to 127.9 billion dollars in 2006 from 104.7 billion dollars in 2005.

The total value of credit increased from 98.8 billion dollars in 2005 to 137 billion dollars in 2006, according to the statistics.

The Central Bank's total assets reached 28.1 billion dollars in 2006, up 22.5 percent against 21.9 billion dollars in 2005. (1 dirham = 3.7 U.S. dollar)

Source: Xinhua