Saudi Arabia’s services exports exceeded expectations in 2023, marking their best performance with a 40 percent increase to SAR182 billion ($48.52 billion), according to preliminary data. The travel sector’s recovery significantly contributed to this surge, making up 74 percent of total services exports at SAR135 billion. Following that came Saudi Arabia’s transport sector with SAR24.2 billion in services exports, and the telecommunications sector with SAR6.3 billion.
Notably, the telecommunications and information technology market has experienced significant growth in recent years with its value exceeding SAR91 billion in 2022. In addition, the number of digital startups across the country saw a 13 percent increase, while the local content ratio in the technology sector also surpassed 28 percent.
Increasing Saudi non-oil exports
In light of the increase in Saudi Arabia’s services exports, the Saudi Export Development Authority (Saudi Exports) has supported the sector by facilitating the reach of Saudi services to new markets and expanding them. Hence, this supports the country’s national targets and increases the share of non-oil exports.
In 2023, Saudi Exports launched the ‘Saudi Technology’ label as a sub-brand of the ‘Saudi Made’ program to support national technological products and companies, expand their reach, and promote them locally and globally. In addition, it offers a package of services essential for service exporters to reach importers, either through Saudi Exports services or in partnership with relevant entities. Hence, it aims to facilitate the export process, solve exporters’ challenges, and help them access target markets.
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Partnerships and global expansion
In addition, Saudi Exports is working on partnerships with government entities to develop the services exports sector and improve the ecosystem for companies operating in it. Therefore, it contributed to the development of the ‘BRIDGE’ initiative in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. This initiative aims to support rapidly growing technology companies in expanding internationally and increasing their technological exports.
Moreover, Saudi Exports has expanded its support to the Japanese and Egyptian markets to further enhance Saudi technological service exports.
Saudi Exports aims to utilize its capabilities to promote Saudi Arabia’s services and products, enhance their competitiveness, and access international markets. This significantly contributes to the country’s national economy and aligns with the goals of Saudi Exports and Saudi Vision 2030 by diversifying the sources of income for the national economy.
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