Saudi non-oil economy grows for first time since Covid-19 pandemic

Estimates show overall economy shrank 3.3% in first quarter

Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy — the engine of job creation — grew in the first quarter for the first time since the pandemic hit, even as the overall economy was dragged into contraction by oil production cuts.
 
The non-oil sector grew 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to preliminary estimates released on Monday by the kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics. The oil sector shrank 12 per cent, the most in at least a decade according to data compiled by Bloomberg, leading the overall economy to contract 3.3 per cent. Final figures are scheduled to be released in