Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product expanded 0.5% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, easing from a 1.7% advance in the previous period. It was the weakest growth since the last quarter of 2017, as government expenditure fell (-3.6% vs 14.5% in Q2 2018). In contrast, both private consumption (4.1% vs 2.8%) and gross fixed capital formation (9.8% vs 5.9 %) advanced faster. Regarding net trade, exports dropped 4.6% (from 9.1% in Q2 2018) while imports advanced 3.5 % (from -2.2% in Q2 2018). On the production side, output dropped for manufacturing (-2.3% vs 2.0%); mining & quarrying (-2.9% vs 1.6%) and electricity, gas & water (-6.3% vs -0.1%). On the other hand, production rose faster for agriculture, forestry & fishing (1.2% vs 0.7%); finance, insurance, real Estate & business services (5.4% vs 3.4%) and wholesale & retail trade, restaurants & hotels (5.8% vs 0.6%) while construction output rebounded (4.9% vs -2.8%). GDP Annual Growth Rate in Saudi Arabia averaged 3.98 percent from 1969 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 24.20 percent in the fourth quarter of 1973 and a record low of -20.70 percent in the fourth quarter of 1982.
GDP Annual Growth Rate in Saudi Arabia is expected to be 0.40 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate GDP Annual Growth Rate in Saudi Arabia to stand at 2.30 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Saudi Arabia GDP Annual Growth Rate is projected to trend around 3.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.