Nirmal Narayanan

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product grew by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, driven by a high increase in non-oil activities, according to the latest report released by the General Authority for Statistics.

The GASTAT report noted that non-oil activities in the Kingdom rose 6.2 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2022, while oil activities rose by 6.1 percent during the same period.

The report further added that government services activities increased by 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to the same quarter in 2021.

Compared to the third quarter of 2022, the real GDP of Saudi Arabia grew by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

The GASTAT report noted that this quarter-on-quarter rise in GDP was due to the growth in non-oil activities by 1.7 percent and government services activities by 0.5 percent.

The growth of oil activities, however, decreased by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter.

According to the GASTAT report, Saudi Arabia’s economy grew by 8.7 percent in 2022, compared to 3.2 percent recorded in 2021, driven by a growth in oil activities by 15.4 percent.

In 2022, non-oil activities and government services activities rose by 5.4 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.

Earlier in January, during the World Economic Forum at Davos, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund noted that Saudi Arabia is an economic bright spot at a difficult time for the world’s economies.

“We look at the high growth rates of Saudi Arabia with gratitude … also because we need that for the regional and the world economy,” said Georgieva.

The IMF managing director further pointed out that she is pretty much impressed with the way Saudi Arabia is progressing in line with the goals outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

“They (Saudis) are using the increase in revenue very effectively to create the investment environment for future growth for diversifying the economy,” added Georgieva.

Meanwhile, the IMF, in its World Economic Outlook report, lowered Saudi Arabia’s economic growth forecast to 2.6 percent for 2023, 1.1 percentage points lower than its October estimate of 3.7 percent.