Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports rose a whopping 52 percent during the second quarter of this year as evidence the kingdom’s economy continues to recover from the pandemic continues to mount.
The total value of exports for the three-month period to the end of June increased to 238.6 billion Saudi riyals ($63.62bn), the Saudi Press Agency said on Monday, citing a new report from the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics. Oil exports also grew significantly rising 126 percent, while overall merchandise exports from Saudi Arabia increased almost 100 per cent.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports are a key indicator for the Kingdom’s ongoing effort to diversify its economy. Last week, SUSTG reported that Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports soared 41% in the month of June, and Riyadh-based Jadwa Investment revised upward its economic forecast for the Kingdom in 2021.
“Both actual and flash estimates of the Kingdom’s GDP published by the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) have shown strong non-oil sector growth in H1 2021. This combined with our expectation of continued growth in H2, has led us to upgrade our full year 2021 GDP forecast,” Jadwa said. “We now expect overall GDP growth for Saudi Arabia to hit 1.8 percent (vs. 1.3 percent previously). Within this, we see oil GDP being marginally down year-on-year, at -0.7 percent (as previously), but with non-oil growth rising by 3.5 percent, primarily because of higher non-oil private sector growth of 4.4 percent (vs. 3.1 percent previously),” Jadwa Investment said.
The IMF said it sees the Saudi economy growing 2.4 percent this year and 4.8 percent in 2022.
Saudi Arabia quickly and proactively responded to the pandemic with public policy that prioritized safety over the economic growth, positioning it well for a rebound this year.
This week, over 6 million children will return to the classroom as Coronavirus cases steadily remain under 400 daily cases.
