Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s imports from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries fell 19 percent year-on-year (YoY) to SAR 5.51 billion in June, according to a recent report by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
UAE accounted for 65.6 percent, or SAR 3.61 billion, of the total Saudi imports, down 13 percent YoY, Argaam reported, followed by Oman with SAR 1.21 billion, down 11 percent from 1.36 billion in 2022.
Imports from Bahrain fell 35 percent to SAR 527 million in June 2023 from SAR 817 million, while imports from Kuwait recorded the sharpest drop of 75 percent to SAR 101 million from SAR 414 million in 2022.
The Kingdom’s imports from Qatar only registered a growth (of 49 percent) to SAR 48 million, from 32 million a year ago.
Compared with May, the Kingdom’s imports from GCC dropped by 11 percent, or SAR 715 million.
The Kingdom’s merchandise imports rose 1 percent year-on-year to almost SAR 57.9 billion in April. Imports dropped by 16 percent, or nearly SAR 11.15 billion, month-on-month (MoM).
Imports of machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical equipment and parts thereof topped imports in April, representing 11.4 percent of the total Saudi imports.