Saudi Q2 GDP rises 12.2% amid high crude prices

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Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product rose 12.2 percent in the second quarter of 2022 year-on-year amid rising oil prices, according to the General Authority for Statistics.

The second quarter growth figure beat the government’s flash estimate of 11.8 percent growth issued at the end of July. The economy grew 2.2 percent compared to the first quarter.

The growth is mainly due to the high increase in oil activities by 22.9 percent year-on-year.  

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Non-oil activities rose 8.2 percent annually and 4.5 percent from the first quarter. Government activities climbed 2.4 percent in the year to June-end, a 0.4 percent rise quarter-on-quarter.  

Last month, Amine Mati, assistant director and mission chief for Saudi Arabia and head GCC division, International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that Saudi Arabia should investigate new taxes, including on income and property, as it aims to boost its non-oil revenues.

The IMF has said that Saudi Arabia is likely to be one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year as sweeping pro-business reforms and a sharp rise in oil prices and production power from a­ pandemic-induced recession in 2020.