Saudi economy back to growth in 2021 as non-oil activities lead pandemic recovery

RIYADH: The Saudi economy is back to growth in 2021 after a year of contraction due to the pandemic.

The Kingdom’s real gross domestic product grew 3.3 percent last year compared to a contraction of 4.2 percent in 2020 when the pandemic paralyzed most economic activities, official data showed.

Saudi real GDP went up by 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago thanks to a strong growth in non-oil activities, according to data from the General Authority for Statistics.

“This increase in GDP resulted of the economy recovering from the COVID-19 crisis through the growth of non-oil activities by 6.6 percent, government services activities also increased by 1.5 percent and oil activities grew by 0.2 percent,” the authority known as Gastat said in a statement.