Saudi Arabia’s economy contracted at a slower pace in the fourth quarter, as the world’s biggest crude exporter extended its oil output cuts in an attempt to push up prices.
Gross domestic product shrank 3.7% compared with a year earlier, after a decline of 4.4% in the previous quarter, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the kingdom’s statistics agency. For 2023 as a whole, the economy shrank 0.9%, its first full-year drop since the global pandemic.
A slump that started with output reductions remains largely confined to the energy industry, with oil activities dropping by 16% in the fourth quarter. Growth in non-oil activities, the engine of job creation, reached 4.3%.
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