Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments
- Saudi Arabia’s inflation slowed to 1.5 percent in December 2023, compared to 1.7 percent MoM. According to the latest report from the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat), the decline in the rate on a MoM basis was driven by a 0.3 percent decrease in the prices of food and beverages.
- Credit facilities provided to micro, small, and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia grew 18 percent YoY in the third quarter of 2023. Borrowing lines allocated to this sector reached a total of SAR268.6 billion ($71.61 billion) during the quarter, rising from SAR228 billion ($60.8 billion) YoY.
- Saudi ports experienced a 9 percent increase in annual container handling in 2023, reaching 11,380,302 units. This figure surpassed the 2022 total of 10,439,620 containers. Exported containers registered a 13.88 percent increase, reaching 2,744,332 compared to 2,409,767 in 2022. Imported containers increased by 10.51 percent to reach 2,737,910 compared to 2,477,555 in 2022.
