Saudi goods exports drop by 14 billion dollars

SANAA, June 7 (YPA) – Saudi merchandise exports recorded, in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of nearly 51.52 billion riyals (13.74 billion US dollars), or 20.7%, to 197.84 billion riyals (52.76 billion dollars), compared to the corresponding quarter of last year.

According to a statement by the Saudi Statistics Authority, on Sunday, this came as a result of the decrease in oil exports by an amount of 42.07 billion riyals ($ 11.22 billion), and by 21.9%, for the first quarter of 2019.

Saudi oil exports constituted 77% of the total exports of the Kingdom in the first quarter of 2019, but it decreased by 2.2% in the first quarter of this year.

With regard to Saudi imports, it also recorded, in the first quarter of this year, a decrease of about 4.4%, by the amount of 5.72 billion riyals (1.52 billion dollars), to reach 124.02 billion riyals (approximately 33.1 billion dollars).

The imported goods most affected by the decline were machinery and electrical appliances, electrical equipment and parts thereof, at -4%, and transport equipment and parts thereof, at 6.3%.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia’s imports of chemical industry products increased by 7.8%, and mineral products increased by 8.3%.
Compared to the previous quarter (the fourth quarter of 2019), the value of Saudi imports decreased by 6.13 billion riyals ($ 1.63 billion), and by 4.7%.
Saudi Arabia witnessed the end of the first quarter of 2020, the spread of the “Covid 19” epidemic, which forced the authorities to take strict measures, which greatly affected the rotation of the wheel of the economy in the Kingdom, as well as the decrease in global demand for oil, due to the repercussions of the pandemic on the economies of industrialized countries and others.