“Non-oil gross domestic product — the engine of job creation — gained 5% while the oil economy grew 10.8%, according to preliminary estimates released by the General Authority for Statistics on Thursday. Growth for the full year of 2021 was 3.3%, the authority said, slightly better than Saudi officials’ predictions of 2.9% growth.”

-Vivian Nereim, Bloomberg reporter, who added, “The figures suggest that the omicron Covid-19 variant had a relatively limited economic impact in the world’s largest crude exporter, at least until January.” [Bloomberg]