RIYADH - The General authority of Statistics announced on Thursday that the merchandise exports in Saudi Arabia has increased by 62.6% during December 2021. The authority has revealed on its report that the merchandise exports witnessed an increase last December compared to December of last year 2020, at which time the international trade was affected by the travel ban due to COVID-19 pandemic. The merchandise exports in Saudi Arabia increased by SR65.3 billion from its value in the same month of 2020, reaching SR106.3 billion, and that came as a result of an increase in petroleum exports by SR30.6 billion, or 65.9%. The percentage of petroleum exports witnessed an increase in December 2020 of the total exports from 71% to 72.4% in December 2021, while the value of merchandise exports decreased by SR1.7, or 1.6% billion in November 2021. The authority's report revealed that non-oil exports has also recorded an increase of 54.5% compared to December 2020, when it had recorded at the time SR29.3 billion, versus SR18.9 billion. While the non-oil exports value in the Kingdom has increased by SR2.6 billion, or 9.9%, compared to November 2021. In terms of the merchandise imports, Saudi Arabia recorded an increase in its merchandise imports in December 2021 by 17.7%, or by SR8 billion, which amounted to about SR53.5 billion, compared to SR45.5 billion in December 2020. The imports value has also increased by SR2.9 billion, or 5.8%, compared to the previous month, November 2021.
