Saudi General Bureau of Statistics: Saudi non-oil economy will grow by 6.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022

Bloomberg reported on January 31 that the non-oil economy, as the engine of job creation, achieved the largest increase in nearly a year in the fourth quarter of last year. According to recent data released by the General Statistics Office of Arab Saudi, the annual growth rate of Saudi Arabia's non-oil economy in the fourth quarter of 2022 will be 6.2%, the highest level since the third quarter of 2021. Due to the continued high global crude oil prices, the Saudi oil economy rose by 6.1% over the same period. Saudi Arabia's economic growth rate in 2022 is expected to reach 8.7%, which is close to the forecast data of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), making it the fastest growing country in the world. As of now, due to the impact of the "Russian-Ukrainian conflict", the average price of Brent crude oil in 2022 will be close to US$100 per barrel. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, which rely on oil as their main source of income, have not been affected by the global economic difficulties. Last year, Saudi Arabia officially announced that it would increase government spending to narrow this year's budget surplus, deal with the impact of inflation and accelerate economic diversification.