According to official estimates, Saudi Arabia’s economy expanded by 8.8 percent in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier. This growth was primarily driven by a sharp increase in activity related to oil.
The third quarter’s oil activities increased by 14.2 percent year over year, but non-oil activities also grew by 6 percent, according to data from the General Authority of Statistics (GASTAT), even though non-oil activity decreased by 0.5 percent quarter over quarter.
Read more: Saudi GDP up 12.2% in Q2, highest since 2011
Saudi Arabia announced last week that it anticipates posting a second consecutive budget surplus in 2023, though down 84 percent from this year as the top oil exporter’s revenues are expected to be impacted by the uncertain global economic outlook and lower crude prices.
According to the statistics authority, crude oil and natural gas production contributed 35.2 percent of the third quarter’s GDP, which came to 1.036 trillion riyals ($275.53 billion) at current prices. The non-oil private sector made up 50.7 percent of the total GDP.
Mohammed Al Jadaan, the Saudi finance minister, announced last week that the Kingdom had increased its GDP forecast for 2022 from 8 percent to 8.5 percent. He attributed the revision “largely” to non-oil private sector activity, which is anticipated to grow by about 6 percent annually over the following three to five years.
