RIYADH — Saudi Arabia raised its estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the second quarter of 2023 to 1.2 percent from 1.1 percent in previous estimates, according to a report, released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on Thursday. The GDP at current prices reached SR970 billion ($259 billion) during the period. The report showed that non-oil activities achieved a positive growth of 6.1 percent during the second quarter of 2023, compared to what it was in the same period of the previous year, up from 5.5 percent in the initial estimates published by the authority last month. The government activities also recorded an increase of 2.3 percent, compared to the same period of the previous year. This comes, despite the oil activities sector shrinking for the first time on a quarterly basis since the second quarter of 2021, at a rate of 4.3 percent instead of 4.2 percent in previous estimates. This was in the wake of the voluntary cut of one million barrels per day in oil production that the Kingdom began in May and extended it until the end of August, before returning and announcing two days ago that it was extended again until the end of 2023 as part of measures to support market stability. The results of the report indicated that the seasonally adjusted real GDP witnessed a decline of 0.2 percent during the second quarter of 2023, compared to what it was in the first quarter of 2023. In its statement on Article IV Consultations 2023, the International Monetary Fund expected the growth momentum of non-oil activities in Saudi Arabia to continue, supported by increased consumption and investments. It also expected that the Saudi economy would grow this year at a rate of 1.9 percent.
