RIYADH (Agencies): Saudi Arabia revised its GDP figures for the second quarter of this year on the back of strong growth in private sector and non-oil activities, despite a slowdown in its oil sector, official data showed on Monday.
The Kingdom’s private sector grew by 11 percent in Q2, compared to the same period last year, pushing GDP up by 1.8 percent, up from 1.5 percent the General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) reported last month.
The data represents a rebound after five consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines, including a 7 percent drop in the second quarter of 2020 when lockdowns to slow the spread of the pandemic took effect globally.
Today’s figures from Gastat showed an 8.4 percent growth in the Kingdom’s non-oil sector, while the oil sector contracted 6.9 percent with the Kingdom curtailing production under its agreement with OPEC+.
The government sector grew by 2.3 percent, Gastat showed.
Economic activities in the Kingdom showed moderate recovery from the pandemic, with transactions in community, social, and personal services growing at the highest rate of 17.1 percent.
Retail, as well as the restaurants and hotel industry, jumped 16.9 percent, while the manufacturing sector grew 15.3 percent.
