According to a recently released report by Jadwa Investment, the Saudi economy saw 2.4% year-on-year growth in real terms in the first quarter of 2015.
“The acceleration was mainly attributed to the oil sector, which grew following two consecutive quarterly declines,” Jadwa writes. “We assume that year-on-year economic growth will reach similar levels in the second quarter owing to continued growth in oil production. Other sectors of the economy should continue to benefit from solid local fundamentals.”
The growth reversed a slowing trend featured in the last three consecutive quarters, Jadwa said.
“Non-oil GDP growth expanded by 3.3 percent year-on-year compared with 3.4 percent in the previous quarter and 5.5 percent in the same period last year. While private sector was the main driver of the non-oil sector, its contribution and growth level have continued to fall slightly as the sentimental impact of the oil price drop took shape. Nonetheless, the private non-oil sector recorded the highest sectorial growth, expanding by 3.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter compared with 5.5 percent for the same period last year.”
