Weekly Market Brief – 1/7/2022

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy expanded for the 16^th consecutive month in December, but at the slowest pace since March. The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 53.9 in December from 56.9 in November amid slowdowns in new order growth across manufacturing and services. Business sentiment towards future output weakened for the third straight month.

• Remittances from expatriates in Saudi Arabia grew 1 percent YoY to SAR12.97 billion ($3.5 billion) in November, according to the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). Meanwhile, remittances sent by Saudi nationals to other countries surged 48 percent YoY to SAR7.18 billion ($1.9 billion)

• Foreign investment in Saudi Arabia rose 20 percent YoY to SAR2.38 trillion ($634 million) in Q3 2021, according to SAMA. Foreign direct investment (FDI) accounted for 41 percent of the total while portfolio investment accounted for a third. Read more about FDI into Saudi Arabia in our Foreign Investment Economic Brief.