Saudi Gazette Report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Economy and Planning highlighted Saudi Arabia's most prominent economic indicators for April 2025. According to the Saudi Economic Pulse bulletin issued by the ministry, real GDP showed a growth rate of 2.7% in the first quarter of 2025, with a 4.2% rise in non-oil activities and 1.4% decline in oil activities.

The results of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed that unemployment for Saudi Arabia showed a rate of 7.0% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The unemployment rate among Saudi males stood at 4.3%, while the rate among Saudi females was 11.9%.

The results of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) regarding deposits of governmental and semi-governmental bodies and agencies in the first quarter of 2025 showed an amount of SR483 billion, of which 4.1% on a quarterly basis (QoQ) and 0.2% on an annual basis (YoY).

SAMA's results also showed that banks' liabilities to the government in March 2025 amounted to SR612.6 billion, the rate was 1.0% on a monthly basis and 11.2% on an annual basis.

As for consumer spending, the total number of ATMs, points of sale, payment systems in March 2025, the results showed an amount of SR200 billion, with a percentage of 14.5 on a monthly basis and 15.8 on an annual basis.

The flow of foreign direct investment in the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to SR21.9 billion, with the percentages distributed on a quarterly basis at 37.2% and on an annual basis at 13.9%.

Consumer loans in the first quarter of 2025 amounted to SR480 billion, the results showed a growth of 1.9% on a quarterly basis and 6.4% on an annual basis.

The results of Riyadh Bank and S&P Global showed regarding the Purchasing Managers' Index for April 2026, the percentage reached 55.6 points, with a decrease of 4.3 points on a monthly basis and a decrease of 2.5 points on an annual basis.

Results from GASTAT on non-oil commodity exports, including “re-exports,” for February 2025 showed that the percentage reached SR1.26 billion, with a decrease of 1.2% on a monthly basis and an increase of 1.1% on an annual basis.

Regarding commodity imports in February 2025, which amounted to SR36.2 billion, a monthly decrease of 17.1% and an annual decrease of 6.5%.

Preliminary data from Tadawul showed that the main market index closed at 6,671.11 points in April 2025, a decrease of 9.2% on a monthly basis and 8.5% on an annual basis.

Data from SAMA showed that exports in the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to SR328.3 billion, an increase of 4.1% and an annual decrease of 2.9%.

As for imports in the fourth quarter of 2024, they amounted to SR312.4 billion, with a quarterly increase of 3.3% and an annual increase of 12.2%.

The results of the real estate price index in the first quarter of 2025 showed that it reached 104.9 points, Including a quarterly increase of 0.7% and an annual increase of 4.3%.