Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s trade balance surplus soared 137.3% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018.
The Kingdom logged a surplus of SAR 171.91 billion ($45.84 billion) in the three-month period ended September, up from SAR 72.44 billion ($19.32 billion) in Q3-17, according to the General Authority for Statistics’ (GASTAT) data.
Saudi merchandise exports, which includes oil and non-oil exports, increased by 46% to SAR 286.58 billion in Q3-18, compared to SAR 196.29 billion in the year-ago period.
On the other hand, imports fell 7.4% year-on-year to SAR 114.66 billion from July to September, against SAR 123.85 billion.
The oil-rich Kingdom’s trade surplus skyrocketed 103.5% to SAR 441.88 billion in the January-September period of this year, compared to SAR 217.11 billion in the same period last year.
During the first nine-month period ended September, the GCC nation’s exports rose 37% to SAR 812.9 billion, versus SAR 593.4 billion in the year-ago period, while imports fell 1.4% to SAR 371.01 billion, compared to SAR 376.28 billion.
