RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) issued on Friday the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) statistics for Q4 of 2023, which show that the net flow of FDI in the Kingdom amounted to over US$3.4 billion (SAR13 billion), an increase of 16 percent or US$2.9 billion (SAR11 billion), compared to Q3 of the same year.
Total FDI in Saudi Arabia’s economy during Q4 of 2023 totaled about US$5 billion (SAR19 billion), an increase of 16.6 percent, or about US$4.2 billion (SAR16 billion), compared to Q3.
It also shows that FDI outflows amounted to some US$1.6 billion (SAR6 billion), an increase of 17.6 percent compared to US$1.3 billion (SAR5 billion) in Q3.
GASTAT said that Labor Market Statistics for the fourth quarter of 2023 revealed that the overall unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia (for both Saudis and non-Saudis) dropped by 0.7 percentage points (pp) from the previous quarter, reaching 4.4 percent.
The unemployment rate of Saudis reached 7.7 percent in Q4 2023, decreasing by 0.9 pp compared to Q3 2023.
Among Saudi women, the employment-to-population ratio increased by 0.6 pp to reach 30.7 percent.
The participation rate decreased by 0.4 pp, to 35.5 percent, and the unemployment rate decreased by 2.6 pp, to 13.7 percent compared to the Q3 2023.
Among Saudi men, the employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 pp, reaching 63.5 percent and 66.6 percent, respectively.
According to GASTAT, the results are based on a household survey conducted by the authority, which electronically collects information from a sample representing different regions of the Kingdom.
Data about the working-age population residing in the Kingdom is thus collected and estimates are made by the authority by calculating important indicators, such as unemployment and labor force participation rates, among others.
