Saudi Arabia’s economy contracts again, dragged by oil cuts

Saudi Arabia's fourth-quarter real GDP fell 3.7% year-on-year, according to government flash updates.

Saudi Arabia's fourth-quarter real GDP fell 3.7% year-on-year, according to flash estimates published by the General Authority for Statistics on Wednesday.

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That's a smaller drop than the 4.4% year-on-year slide in the third quarter.

The drop was attributed to a 16.4% decline in oil activities, while non-oil activities and government activities expanded by 4.3% and 3.1%, respectively, year-on-year.

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For the full year, Saudi Arabia's economy shrank 0.9%, according to government data.

Throughout last year, the world's largest crude exporter has been implementing output cuts in a bid to push up prices. Saudi Arabia has also been shouldering the bulk of additional voluntary crude production cuts agreed to by some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.

The kingdom's economy is heavily reliant on its petroleum sector, which accounts for 42% of its GDP.