Arab News, Sun, Feb 11, 2024 | Shaban 1, 1445
Saudi Arabia’s industrial production sees 0.4% rise in December 2023: GASTAT
Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia’s mining and quarrying sector drove industrial production in
December 2023, contributing to a 0.4 percent increase in the monthly index,
official data showed.
According to the latest report released by the
General Authority for Statistics, the manufacturing sector’s growth remained
unchanged in December compared to November, while electricity and gas supplies
declined.
However, the month-on-month increase in the
industrial production index was driven by the mining and quarrying sector, which
rose by 1.4 percent.
The IPI, an economic indicator, reflects relative
changes in the volume of industrial output, calculated based on the production
survey.
Conversely, the Kingdom’s IPI decreased by 10.5
percent in December 2023 compared to the previous year’s same month.
As per GASTAT, the decline in IPI was mainly
attributed to Saudi Arabia’s decision to reduce oil output, in line with the
agreement made by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its
allies, known as OPEC+.
In December 2023, mining and quarrying in Saudi
Arabia decreased by 14.3 percent compared to the same period the previous year,
reflecting the country’s reduced oil production to 8.9 million barrels per
day.
In April, Saudi Arabia decided to reduce oil
output by 500,000 bpd, a measure extended until the end of December 2024.
Additionally, to ensure market stability, the
Kingdom pledged an additional oil output cut of 1 million bpd in July,
continuing until the end of December 2023.
“The index had peaked in early 2022, supported by
growth rates of mining and quarrying activities, and manufacturing activities
during that year. Since then, and in particular, in 2023, growth rates went
down, mainly driven by mining and quarrying,” said the report.
Similarly, manufacturing activities decreased by
3.3 percent in December 2023 compared to the same month of the previous year,
while electricity and gas supplies increased by 25.8 percent.
Furthermore, the report indicated that the
relative weights of the mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and electricity and
gas supply sectors in the IPI were 74.5 percent, 22.6 percent, and 2.9 percent,
respectively.
As a result, the IPI in the mining and quarrying
sector dominates the trend in the general index, as added by GASTAT.