Recent Saudi corporate debt problems are not a sign of a systemic problem, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Sunday.

"These are events that need to be worked through as transactions but we don't really see them, in terms of their size, as reflecting anything systemic," Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, told Reuters in an interview.

"And if you look at the market, I don't think there is any evidence of the market having treated them as anything other than specific transactions."    

A debt implosion at Saudi conglomerates Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros has sent shockwaves through the region. Banks across the Gulf have been forced to hike provisions against loans to the two groups, denting second quarter profits. - Reuters