reported.<\/a>\u00a0
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The latest figures highlight the contrasting pressures on the Kingdom\u2019s economy, with a sharp contraction in oil activities weighing on overall growth while non-oil sectors continued to expand. The figures come amid wider regional economic disruption following US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, which triggered a regional conflict and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital corridor for global oil and gas supplies.\u00a0
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Oil activities declined 20.4 percent annually, compared with a 24.8 percent fall in the preceding quarter. Government activities contracted 2.7 percent, reversing the second quarter\u2019s 0.9 percent growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cOil activities contributed negatively to real GDP growth by 4.7 percentage points,\u201d GASTAT said in the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Non-oil activities added 1.1 percentage points to annual GDP growth, while net taxes on products contributed 0.1 percentage points. Government activities subtracted 0.4 percentage points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Quarterly recovery\u00a0<\/p>\n
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded 1.3 percent from the second quarter, reversing a 4.8 percent quarterly contraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oil activities increased 5.7 percent quarter on quarter, while non-oil activities rose 0.6 percent after declining 0.4 percent in the preceding three months. Government activities fell 1.2 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The figures show that output recovered from the second quarter but remained below its level a year earlier. Seasonal adjustments remove recurring calendar effects, including those associated with holidays, allowing comparisons between consecutive quarters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Separate business indicators also pointed to improving non-oil conditions toward the end of the quarter.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index rose to 55.3 in September from 53.8 in August, according to the government\u2019s DataSaudi platform. The index measures activity in the non-oil private sector, with readings above 50 indicating an improvement in business conditions from the previous month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Economic outlook\u00a0<\/p>\n
The figures follow the IMF\u2019s October World Economic Outlook, which forecasts Saudi Arabia\u2019s economy will contract by 3.3 percent in 2026 before rebounding to 7.9 percent growth in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fund linked its regional outlook to prolonged disruption through the Strait of Hormuz and an anticipated recovery as production, exports and logistics normalize.\u00a0 \u00a0
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The Kingdom is projected to be less affected than several neighboring energy producers because of its more diversified export routes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar are projected to experience double-digit economic contractions this year, followed by double-digit expansions in 2027, according to the IMF.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GASTAT\u2019s flash estimates are preliminary, compiled shortly after the quarter ends while some underlying data remain incomplete. Its classification separates non-oil activities from both oil production and refining, and government services.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIYADH: Saudi Arabia\u2019s non-oil activities grew 1.9 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2026, accelerating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101,131,210369],"class_list":["post-902433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-strait-of-hormuz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}