Saudi Arabia’s oil exports fell by 43.1 billion riyals by 14.9 percent to about 245.4 billion riyals in the first quarter, compared with 288.5 billion riyals in the same period last year, according to the General Authority for Statistics’ report on Thursday.
The data also reveals that merchandise exports dropped by 14.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to about 313.5 billion riyals, compared to about 367.1 billion riyals in the same period in 2022.
Non-petroleum exports involving re-exports fell 13.3 percent in the first quarter of 2023, year-on-year, to 68.1 billion riyals, compared with 78.6 billion riyals in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
However, imports rose 18.1 percent in the first quarter of 2023, to about 186.4 billion riyals, compared to about 157.9 billion riyals in the first quarter of 2022, while imports fell 4.9 percent on a quarterly basis.