Riyadh: Saudi Arabia posted a budget surplus of 103.9 billion ($27.7 billion) riyals in 2022, up from prior estimates of 102 billion riyals, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

The kingdom posted 857.272 billion riyals in oil revenues in 2022, the ministry added.

Total revenues in 2022 stood at 1.268 trillion riyals, while expenditure was at 1.164 trillion riyals.

The kingdom achieved 8.7 per cent growth in its gross domestic product (GDP), the highest growth rate among the G20 countries in 2022, despite the difficult economic conditions and challenges, the Saudi Press Agency said in a report, citing the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) figures.

GASTAT also announced that it was the first time GDP reached, at the current prices, at levels of more than $1 trillion, supported by positive growth rates across all economic activities. Contribution of crude oil and natural gas activities reached 32.7 per cent, followed by government services activities at 14.2 per cent, manufacturing activities except oil refining at 8.6 per cent and wholesale and retail trade activities, restaurants and hotels at 8.2 per cent.

Non-oil activities grew by 5.4 per cent in 2022 with the transportation, storage and communications activities reaching growth rates of 9.1%, followed by manufacturing activities, except oil refining, of 7.7 per cent.

During the fourth quarter of 2022, real GDP increased by 5.5 per cent compared to the same period last year as non-oil activities increased by 6.2 per cent. Real GDP growth of oil activities during Q4 stood at 6.1 per cent, while seasonally adjusted real GDP increased by 1.3 per cent during Q4.

Industrial production index

Industrial Production Index (IPI) increased 6.8 per cent in January 2023 compared to the same period last year. This increase mainly originated from the increase in mining, quarrying and manufacturing activity.

The mining and quarrying activity index increased by 3 per cent in January 2023. Manufacturing activity increased by 19.2 per cent, while electricity and gas supply decreased by 3.4 per cent.

With inputs from Reuters and Saudi Press Agency