Saudi non-oil GDP growth to slow to 2.8% – April imports plunge

DUBAI, June 26, (RTRS): Growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil gross domestic product is expected to slow to 2.8 percent in 2016 from 3.4 percent in 2015, Saudi central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey told state television station Ekhbariya.

Kholifey, speaking in an interview broadcast late on Saturday, was responding to a question about Saudi monetary policy and economic growth given global financial market turmoil caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

He said the central bank was continuing to monitor key economic indicators, noting that the point-of-sale aggregate, an indicator of consumption, had risen 15 percent year-on-year in May and that a rebound of oil prices over the past few months had helped to support growth somewhat.

Repeating a central bank statement issued earlier on Saturday, Kholifey said Brexit would not have much impact on Saudi financial institutions because of their limited exposure to Britain and their healthy asset quality.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s imports in April sank 27.2 percent compared with a year earlier and non-oil exports dropped 18.4 %, data from the Central Department of Statistics and Information showed.

Saudi Foreign Trade             04/16     03/16     04/15

(in bln riyals)

non-oil exports                  13.447   15.076    16.489

imports                          40.770   44.044    56.013

Dynamics Of Trade (pct y/y change in riyal terms)

nominal non-oil exports          -18.4       -9.1

nominal imports                  -27.2     -25.6

Note: Non-oil exports usually account for around 12 percent of the overall exports of Saudi Arabia. The world’s  largest oil exporter does not release complete trade data on a monthly basis.