Saudi Arabia's non-oil exports jump 29% to $21bln in Q1 2022
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports grew nearly 29 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022 to hit 77.8 billion riyals ($21 billion), data issued by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics on Wednesday showed.
Overall, exports increased by 72 percent year-on-year to 359 billion riyals, due mainly to higher oil exports, which soared 90 percent, or 133.6 billion riyals, in the same period.
The share of oil exports in total exports rose to 78.3 percent from 71.8 percent in the year-ago period.
Compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2021), total exports rose 12 percent.
Meanwhile, imports to the kingdom increased 12.5 percent to 156.8 billion riyals giving a trade surplus of 202 billion riyals.
Saudi Arabia has been enjoying the benefits of elevated oil prices since the Ukraine-Russia conflict led to a commodities price rise.
The International Monetary Fund has said that the size of the kingdom’s economy could exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year.
