Saudi GDP drops 3.9% to SAR 658.1 bln in Q4 2020

Riyadh City

Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) eased by 3.9% to SAR 658.11 billion by the end of Q4 2020, compared to SAR 684.96 billion a year earlier, data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed.

In February, the authority issued rapid estimates of the Kingdom’s GDP at constant prices, expecting a decline by 3.8% year-on-year (YoY) in Q4 2020.

The oil sector’s GDP declined 9% YoY to SAR 254.98 billion in Q4 2020. The sector contributed 38.7% to the GDP during the quarter, down from 40.7% in the same period last year.

On the other hand, the non-oil sector’s GDP fell 1% YoY to SAR 398.2 billion in the same period, contributing 60.5% to the Kingdom’s GDP.

* Initial data.

The authority said imputed bank services activities achieved the highest growth rates during the fourth quarter of 2020, reaching 4.7%, followed by agriculture activities with a growth rate of 3.6%, and financial, insurance and business service activities by 1.9%.

However, other mining and quarrying activities recorded the largest decrease during the period by 9.5%, followed by the transportation, storage and communication activity by 5.8%, then the community, social and personal services activities by 2.1%.

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