The General Authority for Statistics revealed that the Saudi economy contracted by one percent during the first quarter of this year, compared to a growth of 1.7 percent in the corresponding period of 2019.
According to the report issued by the authority, the reason for the decline is mainly due to the decrease in growth in the oil sector by 4.6 percent, despite the non-oil sector achieving an increase of 1.6 percent.
KSA, the world's largest oil exporter is facing the worst economic downturn this year in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, which has weakened global demand for crude and measures to contain the virus that has affected the kingdom's non-oil economy.
At the level of the non-oil sector, the private sector achieved 1.4 percent growth in the first quarter of 2020, while the government sector achieved 1.9 percent growth.
There are fears that the rate of contraction in the growth of the Saudi economy will rise during the second quarter of 2020, with the country being negatively affected by the economic consequences of the Corona pandemic, and the drop in oil prices to the lowest level in two decades last April.
Source (CNBC Arabic website, Edited)
