Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments
- Saudi Arabia along with the U.A.E., Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia joined BRICS on January 1, doubling its membership to 10, with Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa the original members.
- The Kingdom’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) hit 57.5 points in December. While the economic indicator remained unchanged from November, it dipped slightly from October’s 58.4. Saudi Arabia also topped its G20 peers in December’s PMI.
- Saudi Aramco hiked retail diesel prices for 2024 by 53 percent to SAR1.15 ($0.30) a liter from SAR0.75 ($0.20), as part of its annual price adjustment. Despite the new higher price, diesel is relatively cheap in the Kingdom. The UAE set diesel prices for January at AED3 ($0.81) per liter, down from AED3.19 ($0.87) in December.
