Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia’s imports from Gulf Cooperation Council countries fell 15 percent year-on-year to SAR 5.6 billion ($1.49 billion) in April 2023, compared to SAR 6.57 billion in 2022, the Kingdom’s General Authority for Statistics said.
Compared with March 2023, the Kingdom’s imports from GCC dropped by 21 percent, or SAR 1.52 million.
UAE accounted for the majority (60 percent), or SAR 3.34 billion of the total Saudi imports, followed by Bahrain with SAR 1.19 billion. Imports from Qatar witnessed the sharpest (82 percent) drop in April, from SAR142.9 million in 2022 to SAR 25.2 million.
Jeddah Islamic Sea Port received ports valued at SAR 54.6 billion, or 29.3 percent of the total, in Q1 2023. Among the other major ports of entry for the imports were King Abdulaziz Sea Port in Dammam (19.3 percent), King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh (12.2 percent), King Abdulaziz Int. Airport (6.5 percent), and King Fahad International Airport in Dammam (6 percent). Those five ports together accounted for 73.3 percent of the total merchandise imports of Saudi Arabia.
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.