Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economy grew by 3.9 per cent on an annual basis during the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same quarter of 2022.
The non-oil activities led the Saudi economy to grow in the first quarter of 2023.
According to data issued by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), on Sunday, this increase was supported by the growth of non-oil activities by 5.8 per cent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022.
Oil activities in the Kingdom grew by 1.3 per cent on an annual basis during the first quarter of this year.
International Monetary Fund says the Saudi economy grew 8.7 per cent in 2022, but expects the kingdom’s GDP growth to drop to 3.1 per cent this year.
The Kingdom, which is the largest oil exporter in the world, seeks to diversify its economy to reduce dependence on oil revenues and increase the contribution of the non-oil sector to the gross domestic product, as part of its Vision 2030.
On April 25, Reuters predicted that the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would grow at a much slower pace in 2023 compared to 2022. Because its resources were affected by the decline in revenues from crude oil sales and production cuts.
