The size of the construction sector in Saudi Arabia increased during the third quarter of 2020 by 0.2 percent on an annual basis to reach about 30.16 billion riyals, compared to about 30.09 billion riyals for the same period of 2019.
According to the monitoring unit of the reports in Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, based on official data, the rate of participation of the construction sector in the GDP rose during the third quarter to 4.9 percent, compared to 4.6 percent for the same period of the previous year.
The growth in construction activity in the volume of GDP returned during the third quarter, after recording a decline in the second quarter, on an annual basis, by about 4.7 percent, coinciding with the economic isolation imposed by the global pandemic Covid-19, while the rate of growth in the volume of output activity in the quarter The first of 2020 is about 2.2 percent.
Compared to the previous quarter, "the second quarter", the construction activity achieved a growth of 10.9 percent, an increase of about 2.96 billion riyals, registering the highest quarterly growth since the first quarter of 2011, when it grew by 13.4 percent.
The construction activity constitutes about 8.19 percent of the non-oil GDP during the third quarter of 2020, while it was about 8 percent for the same period of the previous year.
Saudi Arabia achieved a total output during the third quarter of 2020 of 621.4 billion riyals, compared to about 651.39 billion riyals for the same period of the previous year, to record a contraction of about 4.6 percent, affected by the decline in the oil sector by about 8.2 percent, which recorded the sixth quarterly contraction affected With the decline in oil prices.
The contribution of the non-oil sector to the Saudi GDP "the Saudi economy" increased to 59.23 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 57.7 percent in the same period in 2019, which is the highest contribution of the sector ever.
GDP at constant prices shrank 4.6 percent during the third quarter of 2020, compared to the third quarter of 2019, due to the Corona pandemic and the decline in oil prices.
But the gross domestic product rose 1.8 percent quarterly, "compared to the second quarter of 2020," while preliminary estimates indicate a contraction of 3.7 percent during the current year.
The Saudi GDP consists of two regulatory sectors, the oil sector, and the non-oil sector, "which includes the private sector and the government sector."
The oil sector’s contribution declined to 40.1 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared to 41.6 percent in the same period in 2019. On an annual basis, the GDP of the oil sector shrank in the third quarter of 2020 by 8.2 percent, and the non-oil sector by 2.1 percent. The private sector shrank 3.1 percent, while the government sector grew 0.5 percent.
