RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil industrial activities remained 2.1 percent higher than a year earlier in April, despite a broader decline in factory and mining output that pushed the Kingdom’s Industrial Production Index down 6.8 percent from March, according to official data.
Preliminary figures from the General Authority for Statistics showed the Industrial Production Index fell to 84.9 in April, down from 91 in March and 104.9 in the same month a year earlier.
The decline was driven largely by weaker mining and manufacturing activity. Mining and quarrying output dropped 9.3 percent month on month, while manufacturing activity declined 4.8 percent.
The latest figures come as the US-Iran conflict weighs on industrial activity across the Middle East, with Qatar also reporting a sharp decline of 64.4 percent in output in March following the outbreak of hostilities in late February.
“On a monthly basis, the sub-index of manufacturing activity showed a decrease of 4.8 percent, affected by the decline in the activity of the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which decreased by 6.1 percent, and the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, which decreased by 9.7 percent,” said GASTAT.
