Saudi finance minister says non-oil sector grows with economy gradually recovering from pandemic
RIYADH: The Saudi economy is witnessing a gradual recovery since mid-2020, reflected in the positive growth rates of the non-oil sector, Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan said at the Financial Stability Conference on Thursday.
The real non-oil sector growth amounted to 8.4 percent in the second quarter of 2021, led by the private sector, which recorded a growth rate of 11.1 percent, Al-Jadaan said.
Preliminary estimates for the third quarter of this year show that the real private non-oil GDP grew by 6.2 percent, he said. This led to promising results in the public finance performance, he added.
Al-Jadaan indicated that parts of the Saudi economy have also crossed the pre-pandemic stage, especially with regard to levels of consumption and private investment, which are now much higher than they were before the Covid-19 outbreak.
He added that those sectors related to travel…