Weekly Market Brief – 12/17/2021

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• Consumer prices rose 1.1 percent YoY in November, accelerating from last month’s 0.8 percent increase. Transportation prices were the primary driver of the pickup in inflation, rising 5.7 percent. Gasoline specifically is up 48 percent YoY. Food and beverage prices also increased 1.6 percent in November, driven by higher vegetable prices. On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained relatively stable and picked up by 0.2 percent.

• Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.6 percent in Q3, according to the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat). Non-Saudi unemployment decreased while Saudi employment increased, but the respective trends offset each other. Unemployment is down 1.9 percentage points from Q3 last year. Saudi female labor force participation rose from 34 percent to 36 percent QoQ.

• Saudi GDP rose 7 percent YoY in Q3, supported by a strong recovery in oil markets (+9.3 percent YoY) but also solid non-oil growth (+6.3 percent). The strongest non-oil sectors were finance & insurance (+13.4 percent), wholesale & retail (+10.8 percent), and social services (+7.4 percent).