Weekly Market Brief – 9/16/2022

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• Saudi Arabia’s point-of-sale (POS) transactions decreased 21.6 percent to SAR10.6 billion ($2.8 billion) in the week ending Sept. 10 compared to SAR13.5 billion ($3.6 billion) from the week ending Sept. 3, according to SAMA.

• Saudi Arabia’s annual inflation rate accelerated to a 14-month high of 3 percent in August, up from 2.7 percent in July, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics. The uptick in the CPI was driven by a rise in food and beverage prices. The annual growth in the price index for food and beverages stood at 4.0 percent in August, while meat prices surged 6.7 percent.

• The value of Saudi Arabia’s real estate transactions dropped by 9 percent to SAR14.1 billion ($3.8 billion) in July-August compared to SAR15.53 billion ($4.1 billion) YoY, Ministry of Justice data showed. Commercial real estate deals fell 10 percent YoY to SAR4.7 billion ($1.2 billion). The value of residential deals also decreased by 11 percent YoY to SAR8.1 billion ($2.2 billion), while agricultural industrial deals were valued at nearly SAR1.35 billion ($360 million) last month.