Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s non-oil activities recorded a growth of 2.8 percent during the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period of the last year, according to the report of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the authority stated that the Kingdom’s seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) posted an increase of 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the fourth quarter of the year 2023. The authority indicated that this seasonal increase was propelled by an increase in oil activities by 2.4 percent, in addition to a growth in non-oil activities by 0.5 percent, while government activities witnessed a decrease of one percent.

At the same time, the real GDP witnessed a decrease of 1.8 percent during the first quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of 2023. This was affected by the decline in oil activities by 10.6 percent, despite the increase in non-oil activities by 2.8 percent in addition to the growth of government activities by two percent on an annual basis. The fall in oil exports was attributed mainly to the Kingdom’s decision to cut crude oil output as per the agreement reached among the member countries of OPEC +.