Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments
- The IMF revised Saudi Arabia’s economic growth forecast to 1.5 percent for 2024 and 4.6 percent for 2025, reflecting reductions of 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively, from July’s estimates.
- Saudi Arabia’s 2023 foreign direct investment (FDI) report, based on the IMF’s updated Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6) methodology, shows FDI inflows at SAR96 billion ($25.5 billion), exceeding the National Investment Strategy (NIS) goal of SAR83 billion ($22 billion) by 16 percent, reflecting strong progress beyond set targets.
- According to the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat), non-oil exports, including re-exports, increased by 7.5 percent compared to August 2023. National non-oil exports rose by 3.0 percent, while re-exports surged by 18.9 percent. The ratio of non-oil exports to imports grew to 42.5 percent in August 2024, up from 38.0 percent a year earlier, reflecting the rise in non-oil exports alongside a 3.9 percent decrease in imports.
