JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's oil exports jumped nearly 32 percent in 2010, with earnings rising to nearly $214.9 billion in 2010 as against $163.1 billion in 2009, a government report cited by Jadwa Investments said. It was the second highest level in current prices since the 2008 peak income of $281 billion, it added. Moreover, the country's non-oil exports also ballooned to $36.1 billion from $29.1 billion, while imports grew to $96.7 billion from $86.4 billion in the same period, the date showed. Despite higher imports, though, current account surplus more than tripled to almost $66.8 billion in 2010 from $21 billion in 2009. The 2010 surplus was the second largest after the 2008 record balance of $132.3 billion. Trade balance surplus soared to $154.3 billion last year from $105.2 billion in 2009. Growth in foreign workers' remittances dropped dramatically last year, to just 1.9 percent from an average of 17 percent over the previous four years. "The reason for the lower growth is not clear, though growth has been volatile in the past. There is no indication that the increase in foreign workers eased last year, or that pay for expatriates was cut," Jadwa said. Despite the slowdown, expatriate remittances amounted to $26.2 billion, an average of $72 million every day of 2010. Net incomes fell by 18 percent in 2010 to $6.8 billion while returns on the government's holdings of foreign debt and equities totaled $14 billion in 2010, little changed on the 2009 figure. Although the total stock of foreign assets was up slightly, this was likely offset by the marginal decline in US government bond yields. "We think that most of the government's foreign assets are invested in US government bonds." Nonetheless, direct investment income payments hit a record of $9.9 billion, an indication of the growing foreign participation in the Kingdom's economy. The report showed that the decline in net income was because of a sharp fall in revenues from other investments, such as interest payments on loans. "In 2010, as with most recent years, the use of revenues that are not spent domestically to purchase foreign assets results in a net outflow on the capital and financial account," Jadwa said. "In 2009, when reserves were drawn down to finance domestic spending, there was a net inflow through the capital and financial account."
