#SaudiArabia fourth quarter GDP down from previous year but up on third quarter as COVID-19 impact eases | Reuters

Saudi Arabia fourth quarter GDP down from previous year but up on third quarter as COVID-19 impact eases | Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s economy shrank 3.9% year on year in the fourth quarter but rose 2.5% from the previous three months, according to data on Tuesday that showed an upturn from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic towards the end of 2020.

The oil sector contracted by 8.5% and the non-oil sector by 0.8% from the same period of 2019, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics said.

But the same sectors rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively, from the third quarter, with international trade picking up sharply.

“The data points to a further broad-based recovery in non-oil activity from the height of the crisis, with a fall in COVID cases at end-2020 and as the economy opened up,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

The kingdom’s investment programme would be a key driver of future growth, she said, referring to huge infrastructure projects backed by its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund.