Saudi Economy Achieves Highest Quarterly Growth since 2011

Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product grew by 9.9% in the first quarter, more than an initial estimate of 9.6% last month, according to official data from the General Authority for Statistics.

The Saudi GDP at constant prices amounted to 698 billion riyals (about $187 billion) during the first quarter of 2022, compared to 634.9 billion riyals (equivalent to $170 billion), year-on-year.

According to the authority's data, the growth rate during the first quarter of 2022 is the highest since the Q3 of 2011.

The Authority attributed this growth mainly to the significant increase achieved by oil activities, which amounted to 20.3%.

GDP growth was 2.6% higher than the fourth quarter, while oil activity rose 2.9% on a quarterly basis.

The authority said that petroleum and natural gas activities were the largest contributor to the GDP, with a rate of 32.4%.

Non-oil activity rose 3.7%, or 0.9%, from the previous quarter, while government activity rose 2.4% on an annual basis, but declined 0.9% from the fourth quarter.

In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised the economic growth forecast for Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, to 7.6% in 2022, due to the increase in oil production and prices, from 3.2% in 2021.