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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product grew by 12.2 percent in the second quarter of 2022, over the same period last year, recording the highest growth since the third quarter of 2011, revealed the latest data from the General Authority for Statistics.
According to the GASTAT report, the real GDP grew by 2.2 percent when compared with the second quarter of 2022.
The report noted that the surge in real GDP was due to an increase in oil activities which went up 22.9 percent year-on-year, and 4.4 percent quarter-on-quarter.
The non-oil activities in the Kingdom during the second quarter increased 8.2 percent year-on-year, the highest increase since the second quarter of 2021.
The country’s seasonally adjusted non-oil activities rose by 4.5 percent quarter-on-quarter, recording the highest jump in three years, showed the data.
The GASTAT report showed that crude petroleum and natural gas grew by 23.5 percent year-on-year, dominating Saudi Arabia’s rise in GDP.
Petroleum refining came in second, recording a yearly growth of 16.6 percent. However, growth in this sector slowed down by 0.8 percentage points when compared to the previous quarter.
Restaurants, hotels, wholesale and retail trade closely followed where it increased by 16.4 percent compared to the same period a year ago, according to GASTAT.
The expenditure on real GDP at constant prices witnessed an increase in all components in the second quarter compared to a year earlier.
Expenditure from gross fixed capital formation rose by 28.8 percent, exports rose by 25.2 percent, and imports rose 18.3 percent year-on-year.
Furthermore, government final consumption expenditure, as well as private final consumption, also rose by 9 percent and 5.5 percent respectively in the second quarter.
The Kingdom’s GDP at current prices totaled SR1.1 trillion ($293 billion) in the second quarter of 2022.
The non-oil sector’s shares in GDP fell across the board because of the massive expansion of the oil GDP.
Petroleum and natural gas rose to 38.7 percent of GDP at the current price from 25 percent a year earlier, showing the largest contribution as of the second quarter of 2022.
Government services came second holding 13.9 percent of GDP, down from 19.4 percent a year before.
Manufacturing, excluding petroleum refining, followed suit, holding 7.5 percent of the total GDP in the second quarter down from 8.6 percent in the second quarter of 2021.
Wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels were the fourth largest contributor to GDP at 7 percent down from 8.1 percent, while petroleum refining followed at 6.1 percent, showed data.
As for Saudi Arabia’s GDP per capita, it amounted to SR29,819 in the second quarter of 2022, according to the report.
The per capita GDP grew by 44.6 percent in the second quarter compared to SR26,961 in the first quarter of 2022.
The year-on-year growth of GDP per capita reached 10.6 percent in the second quarter, compared to SR20,617 in the same period of 2021.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia produces around 20 percent of the world’s desalinated water, with 9 million cubic meters produced per day, the deputy minister of environment, water and agriculture said.
While speaking at the Future of Desalination International Conference in Riyadh on Sept. 12, Mansour Al-Mushaiti added that Saudi Arabia has desalinated seawater since the 1950s and is “the leading desalinated water producer in the world.”
He noted that the Kingdom now has reliable access to drinking water, of which 60 percent is desalinated.
“The sustained development of our desalinated industry has provided this part (of the world) a constant technological innovation — from thermal to reverse osmosis, from ongoing enhancement in membrane technology to using renewable energy to run desalination plants.”
Speaking of the government’s efforts in this regard, he said in 2002 the Kingdom created the Independent Water Power Producers and an official framework for private sector participation.
Saudi Arabia has also taken major steps toward improving the desalination sector’s efficiency, reliability and sustainability.
Sharing the history and some of Saudi Arabia’s achievements in this sector, the deputy minister revealed that the Kingdom launched the initiative to desalinate water using solar energy in 2009.
“In 2018, we successfully completed the world’s first large-scale water desalination plant powered by solar energy,” he said, adding that today they are working on other solutions, including the membrane technology.
Saudi Arabia launched Shuaibah Independent Water & Power Project, which is the first IWPP in the Kingdom to utilize the Flue Gas Desulphurization technology along with a low NOx burner and Electrostatic Precipitator. This is in full compliance with the World Bank emission requirement.
During the conference, the Kingdom’s Saline Water Conversion Corp. signed a cooperation agreement with Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to localize and enhance cooperation in the desalination industry.
Hosted by Saudi Arabia from Sept. 11-13 in Riyadh, the Future of Desalination International Conference aims to discuss opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship in the desalination sector.
Many policymakers, developers, contractors, researchers and innovators will attend to discuss the sector’s future.
RIYADH: Saudi investors’ trades in US stocks soared 78 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2022, according to a report by the Capital Market Authority.
The amount invested stood at SR71 billion ($19 billion) — the highest level in a year.
Saudis injected SR31 billion more when compared to the first quarter of 2022 and SR10.4 billion more than the corresponding period a year ago.
US stock investment by Saudi-based traders in the first quarter and the second quarter of 2021 stood at SR40 billion and SR61 billion, respectively.
The transactions of Saudis through licensed brokerage firms are divided among seven markets – local, Gulf, Arab, Asian, US, European, and other geographical regions.
The trading value across all territories amounted to SR1.07 trillion during the second quarter, against SR1.14 trillion in the year’s first quarter.
Local trades accounted for 93.1 percent of the total amount, representing SR994 billion, followed by the US market with a share of 6.7 percent, while the remaining 0.2 percent was allocated to other markets.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s main stock exchange witnessed a drop of 312,907 in the number of participating investors at the end of the second quarter of 2022.
A total of 85,343 female traders exited their investments, bringing the number of women participating in the bourse to 1.49 million, according to statistics by the Capital Market Authority.
Similarly, the number of male investors retreated by nearly 227,564 to 4.18 million, against 4.41 million in the first quarter of the year.
Despite the sequential drop, the data revealed that more female traders joined the Kingdom’s stock market in the second quarter when compared to 1.42 million in the same period last year.
The total number of individuals with ownership in the Saudi stock market was 5.67 million at the end of the three-month period, while the number of portfolios held rose to 10.8 million from 10.1 million in the prior quarter.
RIYADH: Global asset management firm Mercer has received its advisory investment license from the Capital Market Authority to operate in Saudi Arabia.
During the Euromoney Saudi Arabia Conference held in Riyadh, Mercer’s President for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa Renee McGowan told Arab News that the company intends to rapidly expand its team in the Kingdom during the next six weeks.
McGowan said that the company is already known in the region for their operations in the human resources space, and is now planning to expand its investment advice arm in Saudi Arabia.
She added that the company, which has been operating in Riyadh for a decade, has grown staff numbers tenfold, and is planning to invest more in local talent by implementing intern, graduate, and talent development programs.
“We’re the investment advisor on $13 trillion of assets globally, and we have our own investment, implemented solutions where we manage $400 billion of assets as well. Our plan now is to obviously be able to provide a lot more investment advice to clients in the Kingdom,” McGowan told Arab News.
She also added that Saudi Arabia’s economy is changing rapidly with the implementation of Vision 2030, and that the Kingdom is an almost unique market.
“Saudi Arabia has done a very good job of continuing to run a high-growth economy, and I think the gross domestic product will actually be the highest in the next 10 years,” she said.
McGowan also stated that the world is still not familiar with the activity currently happening in Saudi Arabia, and with Vision 2030 in place, she believes that the Kingdom is going through profound economic and societal transformation.
The company is planning to support Saudi Arabia’s growth with its advisory license to provide advice on investments without placing any assets.
“The investment opportunity here is obviously to not only make sure that growth continues, but also making sure that the asset pools here are well diversified, that the investors are looking at their asset allocation, their portfolio construction, and what governance is (there) for managing them,” she added.
With pension plans not prevalent in the region, Mercer was able to contribute to the implementation of the UAE’s Dubai Employee Workforce Savings Plans, DEWS, in addition to working with many sovereign wealth funds across the Middle East.
“With regards to our investment advisory services, we do work with clients all over the world. We want to make sure that any environment we’re working in has strong governance and regulatory environments in particular, so that investors are investing with confidence and security,” McGowan said.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s main index started on a positive note on Monday’s trading session, lifted by a rebound in oil prices.
TASI edged up 0.1 percent to start at 11,951, while the parallel market Nomu declined 0.1 percent at 20,717, as of 10:06 a.m. Saudi time
Saudi oil giant Aramco climbed 0.27 percent, while Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Co. edged down 0.38 percent.
Al Rajhi, the Kingdom’s largest valued bank, edged up 0.35 percent, while Alinma Bank advanced 0.94 percent.
The Saudi National Bank, the country’s biggest lender, fell 0.30 percent, while Saudi Arabian Mining Co., known as Ma’aden, increased 0.57 percent.
Lazurde Co. for Jewelry gained 2.21 percent to lead the gainers since Sunday’s trading, while Saudi Basic Industries Corp. fell 2.2 percent to lead the fallers.
In energy trading, Brent crude futures reached $92.34 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate traded at $86.08 a barrel, as of 9:53 a.m. Saudi time.
