RIYADH: Spending in restaurants and cafes helped Saudi Arabia’s weekly point-of-sale transactions stay above the $3 billion mark during the week ending Dec. 13, coming in at SR13.31 billion ($3.54 billion).
According to the latest data from the Saudi Central Bank, expenditure in the sector reached SR1.73 billion, marking a 3.7 percent week-on-week increase, with the number of transactions surging by 3.2 percent to 58.49 million.
Despite this surge, the overall POS value dropped 7.9 percent, with transactions representing a 0.03 percent weekly decrease to 236.12 million.
The seven-day period saw broad declines across several sectors. Spending on freight transport, postal, and courier services recorded the sharpest drop, falling 43.3 percent to SR34.57 million. Education followed with a 42.9 percent decrease to SR124.91 million, while expenditure on laundry services declined by 15.6 percent to SR51.58 million.
Expenditure on apparel and clothing fell by 8.7 percent, and spending on telecommunications dropped by 15.5 percent. In contrast, jewelry was the only category to register growth, edging up 1.2 percent to SR329.70 million.
