Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports to GCC countries fell by 12.9% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2019, official figures showed.
Saudi non-oil exports totalled SAR 6.85 billion, falling year-on-year by SAR 1.02 billion in the three-month period ended September, from SAR 7.86 billion, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics’ (GASTAT) quarterly report.
Meanwhile, imports from GCC countries to Saudi Arabia fell by 7% to SAR 13.5 billion in the third quarter, compared with SAR 14.53 billion in the same quarter last year.
As a result, Saudi Arabia ran a SAR 2.4 billion trade deficit with GCC countries, excluding oil, in the three months to last September, narrower than a gap of SAR 2.75 billion a year ago.
The UAE was the top GCC destination for Saudi Arabia’s exports during the quarter, with SAR 3.99 billion or 58.4% of total GCC-bound shipments.
Saudi Arabia also imported SAR 10.19 billion in products from the UAE, or 75.5% of overall Saudi-bound shipments from GCC countries.
On a side note, Saudi Arabia saw an overall trade surplus of SAR 97.85 billion in the third quarter, compared with SAR 160.41 billion in the year-before quarter.
This came as a result of SAR 236.08 billion in total exports and SAR 138.23 billion in imports.
