Saudi Arabia's non-oil sector grows 1.9% in Q3 2026

Data released by the General Authority for Statistics on Sunday showed that non-oil activities in Saudi Arabia grew by 1.9% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2026.

According to the authority's preliminary estimates, the Kingdom's real gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 3.8% in the third quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year.

The authority attributed the decline to a 20.4% drop in oil activities, as well as a 2.7% decrease in government activities.

Oil activities contributed negatively to real GDP by 4.7 percentage points, while government activities had a negative contribution of 0.4 percentage points. In contrast, non-oil activities and net taxes on products contributed positively by 1.1 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively.

Seasonally adjusted real GDP rose by 1.3% in the third quarter of 2026 compared to the second quarter, mainly due to a 5.7% increase in oil activities and a 0.6% rise in non-oil activities, while government activities saw a slight decrease of 1.2%.