JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s imports dropped 5.1 percent in May compared with a year earlier while nonoil exports were down 16.7 percent data from the Central Department of Statistics and Information showed.
Nonoil exports traditionally account for around 12 percent of the overall exports of Saudi Arabia Reuters reported.
Nonoil exports increased slightly in April from the previous month but remained 16 percent lower year-on-year Jadwa Investment stated in a recent report.
Imports fell by 2 billion month-on-month to reach 13 billion but volumes imported increased slightly.
New letters of credit opened point to a likely fall in imports in coming months stated the Jadwa chart book for July 2015.
A separate Jadwa released last week said that nonoil GDP growth expanded in the first quarter of 2015 by 3.3 percent year-on-year compared with 3.4 percent in the previous quarter and 5.5 percent in the same period last year.
While private sector was the main driver of the nonoil sector its contribution and growth level have continued to fall slightly as the sentimental impact of the oil price drop took shape. Nonetheless the private nonoil sector recorded the highest sectorial growth expanding by 3.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter compared with 5.5 percent for the same period last year.
‘Despite the slower growth we expect the private sector to maintain the current level of growth supported by strong domestic demand rising bank lending and public sector investment’ stated the Jadwa researchers.
Year-on-year growth in manufacturing transport and communication and finance all slowed in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year according to the Jadwa report.
It said that the lower growth in the manufacturing sector came as exports of manufactured goods particularly petrochemicals and plastics declined due to the weaker global demand (down 25.3 percent year-to-April).
The manufacturing sector expanded by 3.3 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with 6.8 percent for the same period last year.
For transport and communication and finance the slower growth was partially due to a sentimental impact associated with lower oil prices as well as a large base effect.
The transport and communication and finance sectors grew by 3.9 percent and 1.1 percent respectively in the first quarter this year compared with 6.4 percent and 5.7 percent for the same period last year.
