RIYADH — Rising oil output boosted Saudi Arabia's economic growth to its fastest pace in over a year in the second quarter of 2015, data showed on Monday. The Kingdom's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 3.8 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter of 2015, up from a revised 2.3 percent in the first quarter, data from the Central Department of Statistics & Information showed. It was the fastest growth since 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2014 — showing the Saudi economy is still coping comfortably with cheap oil, which is less than half its mid-2014 price. Saudi Arabia pumped a record 10.56 million barrels of oil per day in June, up 231,000 bpd from May. This helped the oil sector grow 5.1 percent from a year ago in the second quarter, accelerating from 1.8 percent in the first. Growth in the non-oil sector was little changed at 3.1 percent against 3.0 percent. The GDP in the second quarter of 2015 reached SR617,880 million compared to SR595,312 million for the same quarter of the previous year. At current prices its value fell by 11.93% and amounted to SR631,028 million. The private sector recorded in the second quarter of this year, a rise in its value in real terms by 3.09%, and at current prices traded higher in value by 5.28%, rising to SR293,185 million compared to SR278,494 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Electricity and gas activity and water witnessed the biggest increase among the activities of this sector, where the value at current prices increased by 11.20% in comparison with the corresponding period of the previous year. The value of gross domestic product of the oil sector decreased at current prices during the second quarter of this year by 39.07%, while its real value prices rose at the rate of 5.1%, compared with its value during the same period of the previous year. The GDP of the government sector also witnessed a rise in its value in real terms by 3.04% during the second quarter while its current prices increased by 22.6%, rising to SR138,034 million compared to SR112,585 million in the same period of the previous year. The data showed that the value of oil exports at current prices decreased by 41.74%, and the value of commodity imports at current prices fell by 9.64% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.
