RIYADH — The Saudi Ministry of Investment has revealed that it issued more than 2100 investment licenses in the third quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 135.4 percent on an annual basis. This does not include licenses issued as part of the campaign to combat violators of the Anti-Commercial Concealment (tasattur) Law The ministry said that the growth in the volume of issued licenses reflects the Kingdom's position as an attractive investment destination that enjoys strong competitive advantages represented by a stable and supportive business environment. The ministry issued on Wednesday the monthly bulletin on the performance of the most prominent economic and investment indicators in the Kingdom, showing positive growth rates in the third quarter of 2023. The social and personal services activity achieved the highest growth rate at 11.8 percent, followed by the wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels with a rate of 5.4 percent while transportation, storage and communications activity recorded a growth of 5.1 percent. According to the ministry's bulletin, the real estate price index recorded an increase of 0.7 percent during the third quarter of 2023, on an annual basis, impacted by a 1.1 percent increase in residential real estate prices. The decline in both commercial real estate by 0.1 percent and agricultural real estate by 0.3 percent has contributed to reducing the rise in price index. The bulletin revealed that the market value of shares issued in the main market in the third quarter of 2023 reached about SR11.4 trillion ($3 trillion), an increase of 5.3 percent, compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The volume of foreign trade registered a decline of 14.1 percent at the end of the third quarter last year, on an annual basis, and the trade balance witnessed a decline of 53.8 percent during the same period, as a result of a decrease in total exports by 24.9 percent.
