The largest Arab economy took a breath of massive economic growth in the third quarter of this year. Its performance increased by seven percent year-on-year, which was slightly above the forecast of the local authorities.
However, solid economic growth also occurred compared to the previous quarter. Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product increased by 5.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, the country’s statistics office said. The strongest Arab economy was greatly helped by the recovery in the oil market. “Economic growth was largely driven by oil-related activities,” the statisticians said. The oil sector grew by 9.3 percent year-on-year, while the “non-oil” part of the economy grew by 6.3 percent.
However, the relatively rapid economic growth may be distorted to some extent by last year’s low base of comparison. Saudi Arabia, as the world’s largest oil exporter, was hit hard just last year when the price of oil on world markets was in free fall. At one point, oil futures were even trading at negative prices, which was the first time in history.
For the whole of this year, Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to grow by 2.9 percent, and next year by 7.4 percent.
