Saudi industrial production index sees 1st drop in 2 years

Production line in a factory

Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell by 1.2% year-on-year (YoY) in May.

The decrease is the first in two years or since April 2021 when it declined by 24%.

Data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed that Saudi IPI edged down to 130.2 points in May, according to the base year 2010, compared to 131.8 points in the year-ago period.

The index extended its positive growth trend, driven by lower production in the mining and quarrying due to its high index weight of 74.5%, GASTAT said. 

The IPI measures the relative change and reflects the production quantities of materials and goods, which have been converted from raw materials to consumables in their final form as goods, for the purpose of achieving a monetary return.

The following table shows the development of the index:

The mining and quarrying activity fell by 5.5% YoY as the Kingdom cut its oil production to 9.9 million barrels per day in May.

The manufacturing activity maintained growth, jumping 10% YoY. The electricity and gas supply activity also saw an increase of 12% YoY.

The following table shows IPI value by activity:

Details and Historical Data for Macro Economy