Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia registered SAR 933 million ($284.9 million) deficit in non-oil trade balance with GCC during March, against a surplus of SAR 1.31 billion in the same month a year earlier.
The deficit was attributed to a 28.4% decrease in exports, against a 21.1% growth in imports, according to the Saudi General Authorities for Statistics’ (GASTAT) data.
Saudi non-oil merchandise exports to the GCC amounted to SAR 3.65 billion ($973 million) in the third month of the year, compared to SAR 5.09 billion ($1.36 billion) in the comparative period of 2017.
On the other hand, the kingdom’s merchandise imports from the GCC nations hit SAR 4.58 billion ($1.22 billion) in March, versus SAR 3.78 billion ($1.01 billion) in the corresponding month in the prior year.
Saudi exports to the UAE reached SAR 2.12 billion ($565 million), against SAR 3.47 billion ($925 million) in March, to register a trade deficit of SAR 1.34 billion ($358.4 million).
