Bahrain Mirror- Reuters: There has been no big outflow of money from Saudi Arabia as a result of the anti-corruption crackdown that was announced two weeks ago, Saudi central bank Governor Ahmed al-Kholifey told CNN television on Thursday.

"We see some increase, but it's not that much," he said, adding that the increase was in the form of corporate transfers of funds. Individuals were not moving large amounts of money out of the country by individuals, he said.

Kholifey repeated statements by top government officials that although individual businessmen had been caught in the crackdown, their companies and the economy as a whole had not been hurt, and companies could still transfer money as usual.

"This has never impacted the companies or their business, except temporarily", when it took time to transfer powers of attorney from detained individuals to other people, he said.

Kholifey said the bank accounts of as many as 200 individuals had been frozen in the investigation, and that some had multiple accounts. Commercial bankers told Reuters earlier this week that a total of over 2,000 accounts had been frozen.

Arabic version