Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product shrank by 4.6 per cent during the third quarter of 2020 compared to the corresponding period of 2019. The COVID-19 repercussions on the economy, the oil industry and the reckless policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman contributed to the setback.
The General Authority for Statistics said in a statement, on Thursday, that the gross domestic product, quarterly, grew by 1.8 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2020, with the Kingdom reopening its closed facilities since the end of March 2020.
The Saudi economy has been severely affected since last March, due to a sharp decline in demand for crude and oil derivatives globally, which pushed the price of crude oil down last April to its lowest level in 22 years.
The Saudi oil sector shrank during the third quarter by 8.2 per cent year-on-year, while the non-oil sector shrank 2.1 per cent, according to the data.
The quarterly local economy growth during the third quarter of 2020, is due to increase by 5.7 per cent, while the oil sector shrank by 3.6 per cent.
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Since mid-2019, the Saudi economy has not achieved any subsequent growth. It shrank by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter, and 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019. It also shrank by 1 per cent in the first quarter and 7 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
The Saudi Ministry of Finance expects the domestic economy to contract by 3.7 per cent this year, compared to the actual growth of 0.3 per cent last year.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, which is ranked as the world’s largest oil exporter, announced its 2021 budget with total expenditures of 990 billion riyals $ 264 billion, down 2.9 per cent from 2020 estimates.
Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of crude oil in OPEC and the third in the world after the United States and Russia, with an average daily production of 11 million barrels in normal conditions.