Weekly Market Brief – 9/2/2022

Saudi Arabia Macroeconomic Developments

• Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector economy reached a ten-month high in business activity, according to S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). Saudi PMI rose to 57.7 points in August from 56.3 points in July, the highest rate since October 2021. New orders and exports picked up while input price pressures eased. Purchasing growth accelerated to the fastest pace in seven years.

• The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia totaled 892K at the end of Q2, rising 25.6 percent YoY. Approximately 81 percent of SMEs were micro-sized companies with 1-5 employees or revenue up to SAR3 million ($800K), according to a recent report from the Small & Medium Enterprises Authority (Monsha’at).

• Personal remittances of foreigners residing in the Kingdom fell 7.3 percent YoY, reaching SAR11.6 billion ($3.1 billion). Remittances of Saudis meanwhile rose 49 percent YoY to SAR6.2 billion ($1.6 billion).