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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s steadiness of commerce witnessed its first enhance in 9 months because it grew by SR6 billion ($1.6 billion) in February 2023 in comparison with a month earlier.
The commerce steadiness surplus surged 16.6 %, reaching SR44.5 billion from SR38.2 billion in January, knowledge launched by the Basic Authority for Statistics revealed.
Ever since a SR8.2 billion enhance final Might, the Kingdom’s surplus has been shrinking by a median of SR6.4 billion a month, confirmed the information.
The surge in February was primarily brought on by the massive drop in merchandise imports, which fell by 16.3 %, or SR11.1 billion, from the month prior to achieve SR56.6 billion.
Saudi Arabia’s merchandise exports additionally tumbled by 4.5 % in February, falling by SR4.7 billion to achieve 101.1 billion, confirmed the GASTAT knowledge.
On a year-on-year foundation, the Kingdom’s non-oil exports, together with re-exports, decreased by 16.4 % to SR20.9 billion in February in comparison with the identical month in 2022.
In its report, GASTAT famous that the Kingdom’s non-oil exports have been pulled down by a 20.6 % drop in chemical and allied industries, accounting for 33.2 % of non-oil merchandise exports in February.
The report additional identified that general merchandise exports fell by 12.7 % in February to SR101.1 billion, down from SR115.8 billion the 12 months prior. This was pushed by a 11.7 % drop within the Kingdom’s oil exports to achieve SR80.2 billion in February.
Saudi Arabia’s merchandise imports elevated by 15.2 % in February to SR56.6 billion in comparison with SR49.1 billion in the identical interval final 12 months.
The report added that essentially the most imported merchandise in February was equipment, mechanical home equipment, and electrical gear elements, which accounted for 20.8 % of the entire merchandise imports.
As imports rose by 15.2 % and non-oil exports fell 16.4 % year-on-year, the ratio of non-oil exports to imports dropped by 13.9 % in that interval to achieve 37 %.
China sustained its place as the highest international export vacation spot for Saudi Arabia that month accounting for 17.4 % of whole Saudi exports valued at SR17.6 billion.
It was adopted by Japan with exports valued at SR10.2 billion — 10.1 % of the entire — and India at SR9.9 billion, which was chargeable for 9.7 %, confirmed the information.
As for the Kingdom’s imports, China additionally took the lead, accounting for 23.4 % of the entire, value SR13.2 billion.
The US adopted with SR5.1 billion, or 8.9 % of the entire. India got here in third with SR3.8 billion, or 6.7 % of the entire imports, confirmed the report.
Jeddah Islamic Port let via 30 % of the entire imports value SR17 billion, making it the Kingdom’s main port for incoming items in February.
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