Weekly Market Brief – 6/9/2023

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• The Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index reached 58.5 points in May, well above the 50 reading, indicating economic growth. This was a slight drop compared to 59.6 points in April.

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects growth in Saudi Arabia to slow to 2.1 percent in 2023 on the back of OPEC+ production cuts announced in April. The IMF, in its latest Article IV mission concluding statement, said that while April’s cuts would reduce overall growth to 2.1 percent, non-oil growth is expected to remain robust, averaging 5 percent in 2023.

• Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product grew by 3.8 percent YoY in the first quarter of 2023, primarily driven by expansion in non-oil activities, according to a report released by the General Authority for Statistics (GAStat). The Kingdom’s non-oil activities expanded by 5.4 percent YoY.