RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's non-oil sector achieved a 3.3 percent growth, exceeding all expectations, due to the 3.8 percent growth in the private sector. On the other hand, the oil sector, the hitherto mainstay of the Kingdom's economy, receded by 3.6 percent in 2019, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) as stating Sunday. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) achieved an annual growth of 0.3 percent in 2019, compared to 2.4 percent in 2018. The GaStat statement added: "The growth achieved during the previous year can be basically attributed to the 6.3 percent growth achieved in the wholesale and retail, restaurants and hotel activities, 8 percent growth in insurance and business services, and 5.6 percent growth in transport, storage and telecommunications activities." The statement added that the decreased growth was due to the shrinkage of the economic activities. As such, growth in electricity, gas and water sectors decreased by 4 percent, followed by petroleum and natural gas activities with a drop of 3.2 percent, and growth in the manufacturing industries dropped by 0.9 percent. The statement pointed out that the Kingdom's GDP at current prices reached SR2.974 billion last year, achieving an increase of 0.8 percent compared to last year. The contribution of the petroleum and natural gas activities to the GDP reached 27.4 percent.
