Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia's total savings declined 6.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The kingdom's savings amounted to SAR 152.05 billion in the three-month period ended December 2017, down from SAR 162.52 billion in the comparative period of 2016, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics’ (GASTAT) data.
Ratio of total savings to the gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 22.7% in Q4-17, compared to the year-ago period.
For the full year of 2017, the GCC nation's savings amounted to SAR 758.79 billion, which represent 29.6% to the GDP.
Consuming expenses rose 9.3% to SAR 488.2 billion during Q4-17, up from SAR 446.83 billion in the same three-month period of 2016.
Total income from abroad declined 37.4% to SAR 9.54 billion in Q4-17, compared to SAR 15.23 billion in the corresponding period a year before.
Remittances tumbled to SAR 39.42 billion for Q4-17 versus SAR 42.45 billion in Q4-16.
The Saudi national income rose 4.3%, registering SAR 679.66 billion in Q4-17, compared to SAR 651.8 billion in the same three months in 2016.
