Saudi consumer spending drops $30.66bln in 10 months
Riyadh – Consumer spending in Saudi Arabia dropped by 13% or SAR 115.42 billion during the first 10 months of 2020 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.
The kingdom’s consumer spending stood at SAR 785.288 billion during the period from January to October 2020, compared with SAR 900.711 billion in the same period in 2019, according to data collected by Mubasher based on figures from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).
Point of sale (POS) deals in the Gulf country rose by 22% YoY during the ten-month period to hit SAR 285.414 billion.
On the contrary, cash withdrawals from ATMs fell by 25% on a yearly basis to SAR 499.87 billion.
Consumers spent SAR 51.46 billion on the food and beverage sector, and SAR 30.75 billion and SAR 24.18 billion, respectively, on the restaurants and cafes, and the healthcare sectors.
In October, consumer spending dipped by 9.5% on an annual basis to total SAR 84.67 billion.
On the other hand, POS sales saw a yearly increase of 34% in October at SAR 33.64 billion, the second-highest monthly level ever.
Meanwhile, cash withdrawals through banks reached SAR 51.03 billion, a yearly drop of 25.4%.
