CAIRO/RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index jumped by an annual rate of 6.5 percent in September due to higher activity in the mining and quarrying sector that is dominated by oil production, data released by Saudi’s General Authority for Statistics (Gastat) showed.
The general index has now risen for the fifth consecutive month and the growth rate reached a three-month high.
Production in the mining and quarrying sector, which has 74.5 percent weight in the general index, went up by a yearly rate of 7.6 percent as oil production increased significantly, Gastat said without giving a percentage increase for the oil production. In the previous month, the expansion rate was a lower 6.5 percent.
Oil output increased from 8.9 million barrels a day in September last year to 9.6 million this year, the data showed.
Saudi Arabia is seeing more oil income this year as it is increasing output under the OPEC+ deal at a time when oil prices are trading at multi-year highs.
In addition, non-oil manufacturing activity grew by a solid yearly rate of 4.5 percent in September, yet it eased slightly from last month’s 5 percent.
On the other hand, the electricity and gas sector posted an annual fall of 2.2 percent. However, the pace of decline has decelerated noticeably from -13.7 percent in May this year.
Non-oil manufacturing has a weight of 22.6 percent in the index while the electricity and gas sector makes up around 2.9 percent.