Saudi Arabia’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.7% in Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2020. This positive growth was to a large extent due to the increase in oil revenues (+10.9% y-o-y), said Al Rajhi Capital Research. 

 

The non-oil revenues also increased strongly by 5.1% y-o-y, while government activities expanded by 2.4% y-o-y, according to data issued by the General Authority for Statistics. 

 

The kingdom’s non-oil exports growth for the month of January 2022 increased by 27.5% y-o-y, compared to the increase of 56.1% y-o-y in December 2021. Segment-wise: plastics & rubbers and chemical products rose +28.9% y-o-y and +44.4% y-o-y, respectively.

 

Merchandise imports

Merchandise imports increased 8.1% y-o-y in January 2022 as compared to the increase of 19.4% y-o-y in December 2021. Meanwhile, China is the top export destination and also continued to be the largest import country in January 2022.

 

The rating agency S&P affirmed Saudi Arabia’s rating at ‘A-‘, but revised its outlook to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’, citing improving gross domestic product growth and fiscal dynamics over the medium term. 

 

Further, The Saudi Central Bank’s monthly statistics indicated that the macro-economic conditions are healthy in the kingdom.

 

Money Supply

Money Supply (M3) continued to grow in February 2022 (+7.8% y-o-y) to stand at SR2,330 billion ($621 billion); while M1 and M2 increased 4.3% y-o-y and 5.3% y-o-y, respectively. As per the weekly money supply data by Saudi Central Bank, M3 may be higher in March 2022 than in the month of February 2022.

 

Credit to the private sector witnessed a growth of 14.9% y-o-y (+1.6% m-o-m) in February 2022; while bank claims on public sector advanced 11.5% y-o-y (+1.6% m-o-m) in the same month. Meanwhile, deposits rose 8.7% y-o-y (+1.7% m-o-m) in February 2022.

 

Meanwhile, LDR came in at 80.83% in February 2022. Q4 2021 labour data: Saudi unemployment rate came in at 11.0% in Q4 2021 as compared to 11.3% from Q3 2021; while overall unemployment in the kingdom came in at 6.9% in Q4 2021 as compared to 6.6% in Q3 2021. 

 

Labour force

Further, the Saudi labour force participation rate increased to 51.5% in Q4 2021 (49.8% in Q3 2021). 

 

Meanwhile, the average monthly wages of Saudi nationals declined 2.8% q-o-q to SR10,186; while the overall monthly wages fell 6.0% q-o-q to SR6,380.

 

Banking sector net profit before Zakat and tax increased 55.2% y-o-y to SR4.8 billion in February 2022 as compared to an increase of 5.0% y-o-y in January 2022. However, on a monthly basis, the banking sector profits declined by 10.8% in February 2022 (+5.7% m-o-m in January).

 

The monthly mortgage disbursement was SR8.8 billion in Feb 2022 (compared to monthly disbursement of SR14.2 billion in Feb 2021).

 

Foreign reserves

Saudi Central Bank’s foreign reserves, on an annual basis, rose 0.05% in February 2022 versus decline of 0.7% y-o-y in January 2022. However, the reserves declined 1.2% m-o-m in February 2022 (-1.9% m-o-m in January). 

 

Meanwhile, as of February 2022, government reserves with Saudi Central Bank stood at SR368.1 billion (including government current account), which declined 3.0% m-o-m.

Remittances (Personal Transfers) by Saudi nationals increased 33.7% y-o-y in February 2022 (+45.3% y-o-y in January 2022). However, remittances by non-Saudi nationals declined 0.9% y-o-y in the same month (+3.8% y-o-y in January 2022).-- TradeArabia News Service